Functional oxide thin films for next-generation electronics and photonics: a multi-material perspective

Functional oxides such as Vanadium Oxide (VO₂), Hafnium Zirconium Oxide (Hf0.5Zr0.5O₂), and BaTiO₃ (BTO) are particularly interesting due to their applications in optical switches, phase change and ferroelectric memory devices. Further, obtaining the freestanding epitaxial thin films offer huge potential for flexible electronics and heterogeneous integration with next-generation devices. In this work, we present an overview of the phase evolution and stability, and various methods of tuning the physical properties of these functional oxides. The importance of point defects, materials processing and their influence in tuning the physical properties will be discussed.