Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO 3 films
Abstract
The nature of the metal-insulator transition in thin films and superlattices of LaNiO3 only a few unit cells in thickness remains elusive despite tremendous effort. Quantum confinement and epitaxial strain have been evoked as the mechanisms, although other factors such as growth-induced disorder, cation non-stoichiometry, oxygen vacancies, and substrate-film interface quality may also affect the observable properties of ultrathin films. Here we report results obtained for near-ideal LaNiO3 films with different thicknesses and terminations grown by atomic layer-by-layer laser molecular beam epitaxy on LaAlO3 substrates. We find that the room-temperature metallic behavior persists until the film thickness is reduced to an unprecedentedly small 1.5 unit cells (NiO2 termination). Electronic structure measurements using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and first-principles calculation suggest that oxygen vacancies existing in the films also contribute to the metal-insulator transition.
- Authors:
-
[5];
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics and Temple Materials Inst.
- Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Physics; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division
- Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)
- Univ. of Salerno, CNR-SPIN, Fisciano (Italy); Inst. for Materials Workshop (CNR-IOM), Trieste (Italy)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Center for Electron Microscopy and Molecular Foundry
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Advanced Photon Source (APS)
- Univ. of South Florida, Tampa, FL (United States). Dept. of Physics
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
- Temple Univ., Philadelphia, PA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Inst. for Materials Workshop (CNR-IOM), Trieste (Italy)
- Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics; The Flatiron Inst., New York, NY (United States). Center for Computational Quantum Physics
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source; Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Office (ARO)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1460349
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1462254; OSTI ID: 1463856
- Report Number(s):
- BNL-207932-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723; ark:/13030/qt4h42t3tn
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1245000; W911NF-15-1-0181; AC02-98CH10886; SC0012704; AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Related Information: © 2018 The Author(s).; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
Citation Formats
Golalikhani, M., Lei, Q., Chandrasena, R. U., Kasaei, L., Park, H., Bai, J., Orgiani, P., Ciston, J., Sterbinsky, G. E., Arena, D. A., Shafer, P., Arenholz, E., Davidson, B. A., Millis, A. J., Gray, A. X., and Xi, X. X. Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04546-5.
Golalikhani, M., Lei, Q., Chandrasena, R. U., Kasaei, L., Park, H., Bai, J., Orgiani, P., Ciston, J., Sterbinsky, G. E., Arena, D. A., Shafer, P., Arenholz, E., Davidson, B. A., Millis, A. J., Gray, A. X., & Xi, X. X. Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04546-5
Golalikhani, M., Lei, Q., Chandrasena, R. U., Kasaei, L., Park, H., Bai, J., Orgiani, P., Ciston, J., Sterbinsky, G. E., Arena, D. A., Shafer, P., Arenholz, E., Davidson, B. A., Millis, A. J., Gray, A. X., and Xi, X. X. Thu .
"Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04546-5. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1460349.
@article{osti_1460349,
title = {Nature of the metal-insulator transition in few-unit-cell-thick LaNiO3 films},
author = {Golalikhani, M. and Lei, Q. and Chandrasena, R. U. and Kasaei, L. and Park, H. and Bai, J. and Orgiani, P. and Ciston, J. and Sterbinsky, G. E. and Arena, D. A. and Shafer, P. and Arenholz, E. and Davidson, B. A. and Millis, A. J. and Gray, A. X. and Xi, X. X.},
abstractNote = {The nature of the metal-insulator transition in thin films and superlattices of LaNiO3 only a few unit cells in thickness remains elusive despite tremendous effort. Quantum confinement and epitaxial strain have been evoked as the mechanisms, although other factors such as growth-induced disorder, cation non-stoichiometry, oxygen vacancies, and substrate-film interface quality may also affect the observable properties of ultrathin films. Here we report results obtained for near-ideal LaNiO3 films with different thicknesses and terminations grown by atomic layer-by-layer laser molecular beam epitaxy on LaAlO3 substrates. We find that the room-temperature metallic behavior persists until the film thickness is reduced to an unprecedentedly small 1.5 unit cells (NiO2 termination). Electronic structure measurements using X-ray absorption spectroscopy and first-principles calculation suggest that oxygen vacancies existing in the films also contribute to the metal-insulator transition.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-04546-5},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1460349},
journal = {Nature Communications},
issn = {2041-1723},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {6}
}
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Works referencing / citing this record:
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