Correlation between stoichiometry, strain, and metal-insulator transitions of NdNiO3 films

Hauser, Adam J.; Mikheev, Evgeny; Moreno, Nelson E.; Hwang, Jinwoo; Zhang, Jack; Stemmer, Susanne

doi:10.1063/1.4914002

Cited by 63 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…6,[12][13][14] 16 On the other hand, Hauser et al reported that the off-stoichiometry of the NNO films is effectively not affecting the temperature at which the MIT occurs but that, only the strain state needs to be considered. 17 These contradictory results suggest that there is a problem of reproducibility of the physical properties of NNO thin films that are generally grown via physical vapor deposition techniques onto similar templates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Reproducibility and off-stoichiometry issues in nickelate thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

et al. 2017

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Rare-earth nickelates are strongly correlated oxides displaying a metal-to-insulator transition at a temperature tunable by the rare-earth ionic radius. In PrNiO 3 and NdNiO 3 , the transition is very sharp and shows an hysteretic behavior akin to a first-order transition. Both the temperature at which the transition occurs and the associated resistivity change are extremely sensitive to doping and therefore to offstoichiometry issues that may arise during thin film growth. Here we report that strong deviations in the transport properties of NdNiO 3 films can arise in films grown consecutively under nominally identical conditions by pulsed laser deposition; some samples show a well-developed transition with a resistivity change of up to five orders of magnitude while others are metallic down to low temperatures. Through a detailed analysis of in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data, we relate this behavior to large levels of cationic off-stoichoimetry that also translate in changes in the Ni valence and bandwidth. Finally, we demonstrate that this lack of reproducibility can be remarkably alleviated by using single-phase NdNiO 3 targets.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Reproducibility and off-stoichiometry issues in nickelate thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

et al. 2017

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“…R NiO 3 thin films show inconsistent MIT characteristics, and can have different T MI even at the same lattice mismatch 6, 17–20 . For example, NdNiO 3 (NNO) films grown on LaAlO 3 substrates have T MI ranging from 175 K to 0 K 6, 18, 20, 21 , which indicates the difficulty of synthesizing R NiO 3 that has the desired cation ratio ( R /Ni) and the degree of oxygen deficiency (δ). In the previous studies, oxygen deficiency in R NiO 3 epitaxial films has been controlled by varying p (O 2 ) during their growth 13, 15, 20 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of tensile-strain-induced oxygen deficiency on metal-insulator transitions in NdNiO3−δ epitaxial thin films

Heo

Son

et al. 2017

Sci Rep

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We report direct evidence that oxygen vacancies affect the structural and electrical parameters in tensile-strained NdNiO3−δ epitaxial thin films by elaborately adjusting the amount of oxygen deficiency (δ) with changing growth temperature T D. The modulation in tensile strain and T D tended to increase oxygen deficiency (δ) in NdNiO3−δ thin films; this process relieves tensile strain of the thin film by oxygen vacancy incorporation. The oxygen deficiency is directly correlated with unit-cell volume and the metal-insulator transition temperature (T MI), i.e., resulting in the increase of both unit-cell volume and metal-insulator transition temperature as oxygen vacancies are incorporated. Our study suggests that the intrinsic defect sensitively influences both structural and electronic properties, and provides useful knobs for tailoring correlation-induced properties in complex oxides.

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“…The microscopic origin of these phenomena is still intensely studied and various models of charge localization are being considered in light of a bond disproportionated insulating state observed in experiments [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Independently of the exact microscopic picture, it is clear that these materials are characterized by a delicate balance between lattice distortions, covalency, and electronic correlations [11][12][13][14][15]. This leads to a remarkable tunability of the MIT with chemical and static pressure, epitaxial strain, heterointerfaces, and even near-or midinfrared light excitation [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Light control of the nanoscale phase separation in heteroepitaxial nickelates

Mattoni

Manca

Hadjimichael

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Materials

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Strongly correlated materials show unique solid-state phase transitions with rich nanoscale phenomenology that can be controlled by external stimuli. Particularly interesting is the case of light-matter interaction in the proximity of the metal-insulator transition of heteroepitaxial nickelates. In this work, we use near-infrared laser light in the high-intensity excitation regime to manipulate the nanoscale phase separation in NdNiO 3 . By tuning the laser intensity, we can reproducibly set the coverage of insulating nanodomains, which we image by photoemission electron microscopy, thus semipermanently configuring the material state. With the aid of transport measurements and finite element simulations, we identify two different timescales of thermal dynamics in the light-matter interaction: a steady-state and a fast transient local heating. These results open interesting perspectives for locally manipulating and reconfiguring electronic order at the nanoscale by optical means.

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Correlation between stoichiometry, strain, and metal-insulator transitions of NdNiO3 films

Cited by 63 publications

References 40 publications

Reproducibility and off-stoichiometry issues in nickelate thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Reproducibility and off-stoichiometry issues in nickelate thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Influence of tensile-strain-induced oxygen deficiency on metal-insulator transitions in NdNiO3−δ epitaxial thin films

Light control of the nanoscale phase separation in heteroepitaxial nickelates

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