Abstract
A marked conductivity enhancement is reported in 6–11 unit cell LaNiO3 thin films. A maximal conductivity is also observed in ab initio calculations for films of the same thickness. In agreement with results from state of the art scanning transmission electron microscopy, the calculations also reveal a differentiated film structure comprising characteristic surface, interior, and heterointerface structures. Based on this observation, a three-element parallel conductor model is considered and leads to the conclusion that the conductivity enhancement for films of 6–11 unit cells, stems from the onset of intercompetition between the three local structures in the film depth.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1605197 |
| Journal | Advanced Materials |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 10 2017 |
Funding
The authors acknowledge Marco Lopes and Sébastien Muller for technical support, Dr. Zhenping Wu for assistance with the transport measurements, Dr. Katia March for the FIB sample preparation, and Dr. Xioyan Li for the STEM support. A.F. acknowledges financial support under Project PON-NETERGIT, and computing support from CRS4 (Loc. Piscina Manna, Pula, Italy). Financial resources for STEM microscopy from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme under Grant Agreement No. 312483-ESTEEM2 (Integrated Infrastructure Initiative-I3) are also acknowledged. J.K., M.W., M.G., and J.I. acknowledge support from the National Research Fund, Luxembourg, through a Pearl grant (Grant No. FNR/P12/4853155/Kreisel). This work was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation through Division II. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 319286 (Q-MAC).
Keywords
- nickelates
- oxides
- thin films
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Materials Science
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering