Room temperature Mott metal-insulator transition and its systematic control in Sm1−xCaxNiO3 thin films

We report an epitaxial growth and electronic transport properties of Ca-doped SmNiO3 (Sm1−xCaxNiO3, 0≤x≤0.1) thin films deposited on (001)-oriented LaAlO3 substrates by the pulsed laser deposition method. Due to strong electron correlations of the Sm1−xCaxNiO3 films, the Mott metal-insulator (MI) tr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters Vol. 97; no. 3
Main Authors: Xiang, P.-H., Asanuma, S., Yamada, H., Inoue, I. H., Akoh, H., Sawa, A.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: 19-07-2010
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Summary:We report an epitaxial growth and electronic transport properties of Ca-doped SmNiO3 (Sm1−xCaxNiO3, 0≤x≤0.1) thin films deposited on (001)-oriented LaAlO3 substrates by the pulsed laser deposition method. Due to strong electron correlations of the Sm1−xCaxNiO3 films, the Mott metal-insulator (MI) transition appears around 370 K, which decreases to room temperature only by the 1%–2% Ca doping, and dramatically shifts to lower temperatures by increasing the Ca content. For x≥0.1, the film reveals metallic conductivity down to the lowest temperature measured. In the insulating phase of x<0.04, we observe another resistivity anomaly around 200 K corresponding to an antiferromagnetic ordering of the Ni sublattice of SmNiO3 matrix. A complete electronic phase diagram of the Sm1−xCaxNiO3 thin film is unveiled by this work.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.3467199