Electrical transport properties of La1−xSrxCoO3 thin films

Abstract

The electrical transport properties of La1−xSrxCoO3 (LSCO) thin films were investigated in this paper. As x increased up to 0.3, the electrical transport mechanism transferred from variable range hopping to double-exchange and the film simultaneously turned from an insulator into a conductor. Different from the bulk materials, the maximum conductivity of the film appeared at x = 0.3. A novel electrical transport model was proposed to explain this unconventional phenomenon. Besides, the effects of doped Sr and oxygen vacancies on the electrical transport properties were clarified by investigated the transport behaviors of the LaCoO3, La0.7S0.3CoO3, and La0.7S0.3CoO3−δ films. We found that, when Sr was doped into the LaCoO3 film, the insulating film turns into a conductor; when oxygen atoms were removed from the La0.7S0.3CoO3 film, the conducting film goes back to an insulator. Our work could shed light on the electrical transport mechanism of the LSCO films.