ABSTRACTDouble-barrier insulator/Si/insulator nanostructures on Si(111) were prepared using molecular beam epitaxy. Ultrathin single-crystalline Si buried in a single-crystalline insulator matrix with sharp interfaces was obtained by a novel approach based on an epitaxial encapsulated solid-phase epitaxy. As an example, we demonstrate the growth of Si buried in Gd2O3 and the incorporation of epitaxial Si islands into single-crystalline Gd2O3. The I-V characteristic of the obtained nanostructures exhibited negative differential resistance at low temperatures, however, with a strong memory effect.
