Crystal engineering for novel functionalities with oxide thin film epitaxy

Oxides have become recognized as one of the most promising next-generation electronic materials due to the varieties of rich functionalities such as superconductivity, ferromagnetism, ferroelectricity, transparency, etc. In addition to the great diversity of functionalities, oxygen affinity with many other elements provides opportunities for crystal engineering in oxides: the properties can be tuned by modification of the bonding state of oxide ions. Epitaxy has been used as a powerful method to conduct such crystal engineering on oxides in the form of thin films. We give a review of recent advancements related with crystal engineering of oxide thin films via epitaxy techniques that control the microscopic crystallographic environment.