Electronic manifestation of a disorder mediated metal-insulator transition in epitaxial SrRuO3 thin film

Abstract

Herein, the electronic, magnetic, and transport properties of an oxygen-deficient epitaxial SrRuO3 (SRO) thin film have been investigated. The oxygen vacancies (VO) in the SRO thin-film transform a fraction of Ru4+ ions into Ru3+, resulting in an enhancement of the unit cell volume. Due to the elongated lattice parameters, the electronic bandwidth decreases and gives rise to the enhanced correlation strength. Further, distinctive effects of VO are seen in the temperature-dependent resistivity behavior [ρ(T)]. At low temperatures, the SRO thin film exhibits a resistivity minima near 48 K along with the ferromagnetic to paramagnetic transition (TC~150 K). The resistivity upturn at low temperatures is analyzed using quantum correction in the conductivity and it is found that the weak localization prevails over renormalized electron-electron interactions in the low-temperature resistivity upturn behavior of oxygen-deficient (VO) SRO thin film.