Large effects of epitaxial tensile strain on electrical transport of Mn-doped NdNiO3 thin films

Abstract

Abstract Epitaxial thin films of NdNi1−xMnxO3 (x=0, 0.02, 0.10) were grown on (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 (001) and NdGaO3 (001) single-crystals by pulsed laser deposition. The results were compared and analyzed for the effects of epitaxial tensile strain and Mn-doping on the temperature dependent electrical transport. With increased tensile strain of NdNiO3 films, the metal–insulator transition shifts to lower temperature and the resistivity clearly increases in both metallic and insulating states. Our results show that the effect of epitaxial tensile strain on the resistivity of NdNiO3 films is much larger on the metallic state than that on the insulating state. The effects of Mn-doping are distinguished from the effects of tensile strain. The resistivity data of the insulating films (Mn-doped) fit to variable range hopping model. Mn-doping scatters the charge carriers in the metallic state and it is unambiguously found to assist the hopping of charge carriers by increasing density of states in the insulating state of these films.