Current Applied Physics

Korean Physical Society (한국물리학회)
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Non-stoichiometry-induced metal-to-insulator transition in nickelate thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

  • Lee, Jongmin (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Choi, Kyoung Soon (The Advanced Nano Surface Research Group, Korea Basic Science Institute) ;
  • Lee, Tae Kwon (Department of Physics, Inha University) ;
  • Jeong, Il-Seok (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Kim, Sangmo (Department of Electrical Engineering, Gachon University) ;
  • Song, Jaesun (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Bark, Chung Wung (Department of Electrical Engineering, Gachon University) ;
  • Lee, Joo-Hyoung (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology) ;
  • Jung, Jong Hoon (Department of Physics, Inha University) ;
  • Lee, Jouhahn (The Advanced Nano Surface Research Group, Korea Basic Science Institute) ;
  • Kim, Tae Heon (Department of Physics, University of Ulsan) ;
  • Lee, Sanghan (School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology)
  • Received : 2018.08.02
  • Accepted : 2018.10.12
  • Published : 2018.12.31
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Abstract

While controlling the cation contents in perovskite rare-earth nickelate thin films, a metal-to-insulator phase transition is reported. Systematic control of cation stoichiometry has been achieved by manipulating the irradiation of excimer laser in pulsed laser deposition. Two rare-earth nickelate bilayer thin-film heterostructures with the controlled cation stoichiometry (i.e. stoichiometric and Ni-excessive) have been fabricated. It is found that the Ni-excessive nickelate film is structurally less dense than the stoichiometric film, albeit both of them are epitaxial and coherent with respect to the underlying substrate. More interestingly, as a temperature decreases, a metal-to-insulator transition is only observed in the Ni-excessive nickelate films, which can be associated with the enhanced disproportionation of the Ni charge valence. Based on our theoretical results, possible origins (e.g. anti-site defects) of the low-temperature insulating state are discussed with the need of future work for deeper understanding. Our work can be utilized to realize unusual physical phenomena (e.g. metal-to-insulator phase transitions) in complex oxide films by manipulating the chemical stoichiometry in pulsed laser deposition.

Keywords

Acknowledgement

Supported by : National Research Foundation of Korea

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