Digital synthesis of multicomponent oxides – We can design novel materials

The unique Atomic-Layer-by-Layer Oxide Molecular Beam Epitaxy (ALL-oxide MBE) allows us to deposit atomically smooth single-crystal thin films of various complex oxides. In this report, we briefly summarize the present status of the state-of-the-art ALL-oxide MBE system and suggest that this technique could be useful in the study of the physics and the chemistry of oxides and interfaces and in the research of new materials. Some examples showing how this technique can be used to synthesize various compounds, such as stable or metastable layered structures or superlattices are presented.