Stoichiometry-driven metal-to-insulator transition in NdTiO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} heterostructures
- Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)
By controlling stoichiometry via a hybrid molecular beam epitaxy approach, we report on the study of thin film growth and the electronic transport properties of phase-pure, epitaxial NdTiO{sub 3}/SrTiO{sub 3} heterostructures grown on (001) (La{sub 0.3}Sr{sub 0.7})(Al{sub 0.65}Ta{sub 0.35})O{sub 3} (LSAT) substrates as a function of cation stoichiometry in NdTiO{sub 3}. Despite the symmetry mismatch between bulk NdTiO{sub 3} and the substrate, NdTiO{sub 3} films grew in an atomic layer-by-layer fashion over a range of cation stoichiometry; however amorphous films resulted in cases of extreme cation non-stoichiometry. Temperature-dependent sheet resistance measurements were consistent with Fermi-liquid metallic behavior over a wide temperature range, but revealed a remarkable crossover from metal-to-insulator (M-I) type behavior at low temperatures for all compositions. A direct correlation between cation stoichiometry, transport behavior, and the temperature of M-I transition is established.
- OSTI ID:
- 22293048
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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