High Yield Transfer of Clean Large-Area Epitaxial Oxide Thin Films

In this work, we have developed a new method for manipulating and transferring up to 5 mmx10 mm epitaxial oxide thin films. The method involves fixing a PET frame onto a PMMA attachment film, enabling transfer of epitaxial films lifted-off by wet chemical etching of a Sr3Al2O6 sacrificial layer. The crystallinity, surface morphology, continuity, and purity of the films are all preserved in the transfer process. We demonstrate the applicability of our method for three different film compositions and structures of thickness similar to 100 nm. Furthermore, we show that by using epitaxial nanocomposite films, lift-off yield is improved by similar to 50% compared to plain epitaxial films and we ascribe this effect to the higher fracture toughness of the composites. This work shows important steps towards large-scale perovskite thin-film-based electronic device applications.

Automated summary

In this study, a new method for manipulating and transferring epitaxial oxide thin films up to 5 mmx10 mm has been developed. The method preserves the crystallinity, surface morphology, continuity, and purity of the films during the transfer process. It was shown that using epitaxial nanocomposite films can improve lift-off yield by approximately 50%, indicating a promising direction for large-scale perovskite thin-film-based electronic device applications.