DC current induced metal-insulator transition in epitaxial Sm0.6Nd0.4NiO3/LaAlO3 thin film

Haoliang Huang,Haibo Wang,Yu Yun,Dechao Meng,Yalin Lu,Zhenlin Luo,Yuanjun Yang,Mengmeng Yang,Jun Bao,Chen Gao,Sixia Hu

doi:10.1063/1.4874642

Abstract

The metal-insulator transition (MIT) in strong correlated electron materials can be induced by external perturbation in forms of thermal, electrical, optical, or magnetic fields. We report on the DC current induced MIT in epitaxial Sm0.6Nd0.4NiO3 (SNNO) thin film deposited by pulsed laser deposition on (001)-LaAlO3 substrate. It was found that the MIT in SNNO film not only can be triggered by thermal, but also can be induced by DC current. The TMI of SNNO film decreases from 282 K to 200 K with the DC current density increasing from 0.003 × 109 A•m−2 to 4.9 × 109 A•m−2. Based on the resistivity curves measured at different temperatures, the MIT phase diagram has been successfully constructed.

Highlights

Metal-insulator transition (MIT) in correlated electron materials is one of the oldest but fundamentally least understood problems in modern solid-state physics, due to the complex coupling between electron, spin, obit and lattice.[1,2] The metal-insulator transition (MIT) of such materials can be modulated by electric field,[1,2,3] optical excitation,[4] or a combination of thermal and electric effects.[5,6] One serie of such correlated materials are the rare earth nickelates ReNiO3
The metal-insulator transition (MIT) in strong correlated electron materials can be induced by external perturbation in forms of thermal, electrical, optical, or magnetic fields
We report on the DC current induced MIT in epitaxial Sm0.6Nd0.4NiO3 (SNNO) thin film deposited by pulsed laser deposition on (001)-LaAlO3 substrate

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Metal-insulator transition (MIT) in correlated electron materials is one of the oldest but fundamentally least understood problems in modern solid-state physics, due to the complex coupling between electron, spin, obit and lattice.[1,2] The MIT of such materials can be modulated by electric field,[1,2,3] optical excitation,[4] or a combination of thermal and electric effects.[5,6] One serie of such correlated materials are the rare earth nickelates ReNiO3 (where Re is trivalent rare earth ion but not La) These nickelates belong to the perovskite structural family and display a first-order metal-insulator phase transition.[7] The low temperature state of ReNiO3 is generally classified as a charge-transfer semiconductor.

EXPERIMENT

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

CONCLUSION