Applications of Ion Beam Irradiation in Multifunctional Oxide Thin Films: A Review

Multifunctional oxide thin films exhibit a broad palette of properties, such as ferroelectricity, piezoelectricity, dielectricity, superconductivity, and metal-insulator transition (MIT); therefore, they have long been a research focus in both condensed matter physics and materials science communities. Recently, ion beam irradiation emerges as an effective approach to modify the properties of oxide thin films by introducing defects, strains, structural transitions, etc., and many interesting works have been published. A timely review of those works is therefore urgently needed. Here, we present a comprehensive review of the applications of ion beam irradiation in tailoring oxide thin film functionalities, including ferroelectric properties, dielectric and piezoelectric properties, multilevel MIT process, gas sensitivity, memristive behavior, and magnetic characters, which may be useful for developing capacitors, sensors, memories, and optical devices with enhanced performances. Finally, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives for the usage of ion beam irradiation for tuning the performance of oxide materials and devices.