Electrically induced insulator to metal transition in epitaxial SmNiO{sub 3} thin films

Journal Article · Mon Jul 07 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4890329· OSTI ID:22304469

Shukla, Nikhil; Dasgupta, Sandeepan; Datta, Suman ^[1]; Joshi, Toyanath; Borisov, Pavel; Lederman, David ^[2]

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1. Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802 (United States)
2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia 26506-6315 (United States)

We report on the electrically induced insulator to metal transition (IMT) in SmNiO{sub 3} thin films grown on (001) LaAlO{sub 3} by pulsed laser deposition. The behavior of the resistivity as a function of temperature suggests that the primary transport mechanism in the SmNiO{sub 3} insulating state is dominated by Efros-Shklovskii variable range hopping (ES-VRH). Additionally, the magnetic transition in the insulating state of SmNiO{sub 3} modifies the characteristics of the ES-VRH transport. Systematic DC and pulsed current-voltage measurements indicate that current-induced joule heating is the fundamental mechanism driving the electrically induced IMT in SmNiO{sub 3}. These transport properties are explained in context of the IMT in SmNiO{sub 3} being related to the strong electron-lattice coupling.

• OSTI ID: 22304469
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ALUMINATES
COUPLING
CRYSTAL LATTICES
CURRENTS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
EPITAXY
JOULE HEATING
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
LASER RADIATION
METALS
NICKELATES
PULSED IRRADIATION
PULSES
SAMARIUM COMPOUNDS
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THIN FILMS