Complex oxides and semiconductors exhibit distinct yet complementary properties
owing to their respective ionic and covalent natures. By electrically coupling
oxides to semiconductors within epitaxial heterostructures, enhanced or novel
functionalities beyond those of the constituent materials can potentially be
realized. Key to electrically coupling oxides to semiconductors is controlling
the physical and electronic structure of semiconductor – crystalline
oxide heterostructures. Here we discuss how composition of the oxide can be
manipulated to control physical and electronic structure in
Ba1-xSrxTiO3/ Ge and
SrZrxTi1-xO3/Ge heterostructures. In the
case of the former we discuss how strain can be engineered through composition
to enable the re-orientable ferroelectric polarization to be coupled to carriers
in the semiconductor. In the case of the latter we discuss how composition can
be exploited to control the band offset at the semiconductor - oxide interface.
The ability to control the band offset, i.e. band-gap engineering, provides a
pathway to electrically couple crystalline oxides to semiconductors to realize a
host of functionalities.