Low-temperature Resistivity Upturn Research Articles

Tensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO3 thin films on (100) KTaO3 substrates

Abstract SrRuO3 (SRO) thin (∼12 nm) films have been grown on KTaO3 (001) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The as-prepared films are under enormous in-plane tensile strain, which corresponds to the elastic energy of ∼1.5 MJ. Annealing in oxygen at 900 °C for 6 h relaxes strain, partially lowering the elastic energy. The surface topography shows a transition from granularity as the Ar+O2 pressure increases from 5 mTorr to 200 mTorr, with a simultaneous change in the average surface roughness from 4 nm to 0.8 nm. Annealing transforms the topography to island-type and enhances surface roughness. The films deposited at 5 mTorr are semiconducting, and annealing further enhances the resistivity. The ρ-T of films grown at 200 mTorr shows a metallic behavior with an inflection in the ρ-T at TC ∼ 150 K, FM transition. The low-temperature resistivity upturn shows the disordered nature of these films. The eq. ρ T = 1 σ 0 + a T 1 2 + a 1 T p 2 + b T α (p = 2 & α = 2) describes the transport behavior from 2 K to 300 K of 5 mTorr deposited films. In the 200 mTorr deposited film, the above eq. is valid at T < 95 K with p = 2 and α = 1.5. At TC < T ≤ 300 K, the ρ-T follows eq. ρ T = ρ 0 + ρ 1 T α with α = 1.3 and 1.5 for the as-grown and annealed films. The lower temperature ρ-T upturn appears to have contributions from the disorder-enhanced renormalized e-e interaction (REEI) and weak localization (WL) effects. The magnetoresistance behavior supports a substantial WL effect in the films grown at 200 mTorr. Our results establish a strong correlation between the nature of strain, surface topography, and carrier transport mechanisms.

The Origin of the Low-Temperature Minimum of Electrical Resistivity in Strontium Ferromolybdate Ceramics

In this work, we analyze the electrical behavior of strontium ferromolybdate below room temperature. We demonstrate that in SFMO ceramics, SFMO thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition including (100) and (111) textured thin films, as well as in nonstoichiometric SFMO ceramics, an intergrain tunneling mechanism of charge carrier conduction leads to a decrease in resistivity with increasing temperature in the low-temperature region. This intergrain tunneling can be attributed to fluctuation-induced tunneling. On the other hand, bulk metallic resistivity of the grains, which increases with temperature, becomes dominant at higher temperatures and magnetic fluxes. The interplay of these conduction mechanisms leads to a resistivity minimum, i.e., a resistivity upturn below the temperature of minimum resistivity. Several mechanisms have been discussed in the literature to describe the low-temperature upturn in resistivity. Based on available literature data, we propose a revised model describing the appearance of a low-temperature resistivity minimum in SFMO ceramics by an interplay of fluctuation-induced tunneling and metallic conductivity. Additionally, we obtained that in the region of metallic conductivity at higher temperatures and magnetic fluxes, the pre-factor Rm of the temperature-dependent term of metallic conductivity written as a power law decreases exponentially with the temperature exponent m of this power law. Here, the value of m is determined by the charge scattering mechanism.

Low-temperature resistivity upturn and weak antilocalization in layered Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4 bulk single crystal

Quantum corrections to conductivity, which reflect charge carriers' quantum behavior, are a significant topic in condensed state physics and device design. A resistivity upturn at low temperature or weak antilocalization due to quantum corrections has been often observed experimentally. However, the coexistence of the low-temperature resistivity upturn and weak antilocalization from quantum corrections in bulk single crystals is seldom reported. Here, we report the transport properties of bulk Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4 single crystals. The samples showed a metallic behavior with a resistivity upturn below ∼8.6 K, which may be the result of quantum correction to the resistivity. The magnetic field enhances the upturn feature. The weakly nonlinear Hall resistivity with a positive slope suggests a p-type and multiband feature for bulk Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4; the electron and hole concentrations and mobilities of the samples are very close to each other and have the same order of magnitude. The Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4 single crystals displayed small and positive magnetoresistance, and the 3 K magnetoresistance at 9 T was about 15%. A lack of overlap of Kohler's plot curves at different temperature implies the violation of Kohler's rule. At low temperature, the dip-like magnetoresistance at low field strengths suggests a weak antilocalization in the Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4 single crystal. A small phase coherence length implies weakened screening and enhancing electron–electron interaction effects. These results reveal the quantum transport properties of Ta1.04Ru0.78Te4 single crystals, which can be considered in the future device design.

Observation of weak Kondo effect and angle dependent magnetoresistance in layered antiferromagnetic V[formula omitted]S[formula omitted] single crystal

The compound V5S8, also represented by V1.25S2, is a transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) with excess V. Very few TMDCs show magnetism and/or Kondo effect. Among them, for instance, the sister compounds VSe2 and VTe2 are recently found to show ferromagnetism in monolayer in addition to the low-temperature resistivity upturn due to Kondo effect in the bulk. In this study we find a resistance upturn below a critical temperature which disappears above an applied magnetic field of 2.5 T. This observation suggests the Kondo effect in V5S8 plausibly originated from an interaction of the conduction electrons with intercalated vanadium magnetic impurities. We find strong magnetic anisotropy in the antiferromagnetic state. In addition, below TN, we find an out-of-plane (H∥c) spin-flop transition triggered at a critical field of 3.5 T that is absent from the in-plane (H⊥c). Out-of-plane angle-dependent magnetoresistance is found to be highly anisotropic in the antiferromagnetic state.

Electrical transport mechanism and magnetoresistive behavior of trilayer La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/γ-Fe2O3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (FM/FIM/FM) manganites

The magnetization, electrical transport, and magnetoresistance (MR) behavior of Pulsed Laser Deposited polycrystalline tri-layer La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO)/γ-Fe2O3/LSMO film and single layer LSMO film on Si (100) substrates are investigated in the temperature range of 5 K–300 K. A magnetic anomaly appears in the magnetization {M(T)} and resistivity {ρ(T)} characterizations of the trilayer film at around 100 K, which is quite robust and is present even at 7 T of the applied magnetic field. The trilayer sample exhibits metal to insulator (MIT) transition at 210 K. The transport behavior of both the films is analysed in the context of nearest-neighbour small polaron hopping model (SPH), Mott variable range hopping (VRH) mechanism as well as thermal activation (TA) model in different temperature ranges for both the films under study. The correlated polarons or less mobile bipolarons exist in the metallic regime of the trilayer sample due to the presence of magnetic inhomogeneities. The low temperature resistivity upturn is observed in LSMO film, which is attributed to the spin fluctuations (Mn3+–O–Mn4+) due to thermal energy. The trilayer sample exhibits a large negative MR of (∼45%) at low temperature (5 K). It manifests consistent negative CMR effect across the whole temperature range of 5 K–210 K (MIT). The improved MR behavior of the trilayer sample as compared to the LSMO film is due to enhanced polycrystalline character of the trilayer film owing to higher grain boundary density and spin dependent scattering at both the interfaces of LSMO/γ-Fe2O3/LSMO structure.

Structural, magnetic and electrical transport properties of the sol-gel derived La1-xCaxMnO3 (0≤x≤0.3) nanoparticles

Sol-gel (SG) prepared calcium doped La1-xCaxMnO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.3) nanoparticles (>35 nm) show a phase transformation from rhombohedral-R3c to orthorhombic-Pnma. The dopant concentration influences the bond length and lattice parameters and their variations as observed from the rietveld refinement. The phase stability and chemical compositions are confirmed using the Thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy measurements. The latter confirms the presence of dangling bonds from the changes in the characteristic vibrational frequencies and intensities. Field emission scanning electron microscope-energy dispersive X-ray analysis (FESEM-EDAX) confirms the nano-dimension of the particles and good chemical homogeneity of the samples. The Curie temperature Tc, estimated from the field cooled magnetization curve, shifts towards room temperature (Tc = 160–270 K) with the increase of dopant concentration. The samples exhibit a clear metal to insulator transition, the temperature of which shifts to higher values (169–267 K) with increase in dopant content. With the application of an external magnetic field, local ordering of magnetic moments occurs and the evolution of a ferromagnetic metallic phase suppresses the existing paramagnetic insulating phase, decreasing the value of resistivity. Three different temperature ranges demarked in the resistivity curves are studied using different theoretical models. The observed low temperature resistivity upturn is explained on the basis of the Kondo-like model while the ferromagnetic metallic region is studied using different scattering processes like electron – electron, electron – magnon etc. The variable range and small polaron hopping (VRH and SPH) models are used in the high-temperature region data and with the aid of Holstein's relation the non-adiabatic SPH model it is found to be most suitable to understand the conductivity behavior. The temperature dependent evolution of the Griffith's like phase can explain and correlate the electric transport and magnetic properties exhibited by the samples. This highlights the evolution of Mn3+-O2--Mn4+ FM oriented networks, which form conduction channels with the lowering of temperatures. These channels mediate the enhanced conduction and helps set in long-range FM ordering in the samples/

Anomalous resistivity upturn in the van der Waals ferromagnet Fe5GeTe2

FenGeTe2 (n = 3, 4, and 5) has recently attracted increasing attention due to its two-dimensional van der Waals characteristic and high temperature ferromagnetism, which makes promises for spintronic devices. A Fe(1) split site is an important structural characteristic of Fe5GeTe2, which makes it very different from other FenGeTe2 (n = 3 and 4) systems. The local atomic disorder and short-range order can be induced by the split site. In this work, high-quality van der Waals ferromagnet Fe5GeTe2 single crystals were grown to study low-temperature transport properties. We found a resistivity upturn below 10 K. The temperature and magnetic field dependence of the resistivity are in good agreement with a combination of the theory of disorder-enhanced three-dimensional electron–electron and single-channel Kondo effect. The Kondo effect exists only at low magnetic fields B<3 T, while electron–electron interaction dominates the appearance for the low-temperature resistivity upturn. We believe that the enhanced three-dimensional electron–electron interaction in this system is induced by the local atomic structural disorder due to the split site of Fe(1). Our results indicate that the split site of Fe plays an important role for the exceptional transport properties.

Structure and transport properties of the quasi-one-dimensional telluride Ta1.2Os0.8Te4

We report the crystal growth, structural characterization, and physical properties of an off-stoichiometric van der Waals telluride ${\mathrm{Ta}}_{1.2}{\mathrm{Os}}_{0.8}{\mathrm{Te}}_{4}$, which is isostructural with the noncentrosymmetric ${\mathrm{WTe}}_{2}$, a prototypical type-II Weyl semimetal. Transport measurements have been carried out in magnetic fields up to 9 T. A low-temperature resistivity upturn is observed along all three crystallographic directions at zero field. The along-chain ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{a}$ and interchain ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{b}$ are found to increase logarithmically at low temperatures, while in the low-$T$ metallic regime, both longitudinal and transverse transports support a three-dimensional Fermi liquid ground state. As temperature is further increased, successive crossovers to electronic states of reduced dimensionality can be seen in both interchain resistivities. The transverse magnetoresistance is weak but anisotropic, the analysis of which indicates the Kohler's rule is severely violated over a large temperature range. The positive linear field dependence of Hall resistivity at selected temperatures indicates the dominance of single-band hole-type charge carriers, consistent with the results of the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Our results not only establish this transition-metal telluride family as a good system for studying various dimensional crossover phenomena, but also offer the potential for exploring topologically nontrivial phases with reduced dimensionality, given its structural similarity to ${\mathrm{WTe}}_{2}$.

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

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.

Microstructure dependent magnetotransport properties in polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 ultrathin films on thermally oxidized Si substrates

The magnetotransport properties of polycrystalline La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) ultrathin films depend strongly on their thickness and microstructure. In particular, the resistivity and magnetoresistance can be tuned by varying the film thickness and grain size. Here, we have deposited LSMO films with thicknesses ranging from 100 nm down to 10 nm by pulsed laser deposition on thermally oxidized Si substrates, retaining the films’ metallic nature. To avoid reaction of the films with SiO2 at high temperatures, we have introduced a two-step deposition method (half the film thickness grown at 400 °C and the remaining half at 800 °C). X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the polycrystalline nature, while atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed the granular structure of the films from which, surface roughness and grain size are found to decrease with decreasing film thickness. However, low temperature resistivity upturn increases with decreasing film thickness and grain size. The variations of low temperature resistivity minima and magnetoresistance (MR) with film thickness and grain size have been interpreted in the regime of quantum interference effects (viz. weak localization and e-e interaction), intergranular spin polarized transport (SPT) phenomena and their dominance. It is found that SPT was the dominating phenomena. The signature of SPT was also evidenced clearly from low field MR at low temperatures. These kinds of ultrathin films are suitable as ferromagnetic electrode for spintronic device applications.

Charge conduction mechanisms and MR behaviour of sol–gel-grown nanostructured La0.6Nd0.1Sr0.3MnO3 manganites

In this communication, structure and charge, conduction mechanisms have been understood for sol–gel-grown nanostructured La0.6Nd0.1Sr0.3MnO3 (LNSMO) manganites prepared at different process temperatures under air and oxygen environments. Obtained X-ray diffraction patterns of all the samples were analysed using Rietveld refinements and obtained structural lattice parameters have been discussed in correlation with resistivity behaviour of the samples. Observed low temperature resistivity upturn behaviour has been examined in the context of electron–electron scattering mechanism. Metallic and insulating/semiconducting behaviours of all the nanostructured LNSMO manganites have been understood by using various models and mechanisms. Magnetoresistance isotherms have also been theoretically fitted and separate grain and grain boundary contributions have been studied for LNSMO manganite samples. All obtained fitting parameters have been discussed in the context of role of applied magnetic field, process temperature and annealing environment.

Observation of the Kondo Effect in Multilayer Single-Crystalline VTe2 Nanoplates.

We report the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth, characterization, and low-temperature magnetotransport of 1T phase multilayer single-crystalline VTe2 nanoplates. The transport studies reveal that no sign of intrinsic long-range ferromagnetism but localized magnetic moments exist in the individual multilayer metallic VTe2 nanoplates. The localized moments give rise to the Kondo effect, evidenced by logarithmical increment of resistivity with decreasing temperature and negative magnetoresistance (NMR) regardless of the direction of magnetic field at temperatures below the resistivity minimum. The low-temperature resistivity upturn is well described by the Hamann equation, and the NMR at different temperatures, a manifestation of the magnetization of the localized spins, is well fitted to a Brillouin function for S = 1/2. Density functional theory calculations reveal that the localized magnetic moments mainly come from the interstitial vanadium ions in the VTe2 nanoplates. Our results will shed light on the study of magnetic properties, strong correlation, and many-body physics in two-dimensional metallic transition metal dichalcogenides.

Effect of structural disorder on transport properties of LaNiO3 thin films

We have deposited LaNiO3 thin films on LaAlO3 (001), SrTiO3 (001), and Si (001) substrates using the pulsed laser deposition technique. Depositions were carried out at various substrate temperatures ranging from 0 to 800 °C. The effects of lattice mismatch and structural disorder on the transport properties of films deposited on various substrates and at different substrate temperatures are reported. X-ray diffraction confirms a highly c-axis oriented growth of LaNiO3 films on all the substrates at substrate temperatures of 600 and 800 °C, while at lower substrate temperatures deposited films are amorphous. Emergence of a new Raman mode indicates symmetry lowering in all the deposited crystalline films. Hardening of the Eg(3) (∼400 cm−1) mode is also observed with the rise of in-plane compressive strain. Resistivity curves for films on Si show a semiconducting behaviour and follow a variable range hopping mechanism. Crystalline films on LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 exhibit a metallic character along with a low-temperature resistivity upturn, which is attributed to the contribution of self-localization to resistivity at low temperatures as indicated by magnetotransport measurements.

Anomalous resistivity upturn in epitaxial L21-Co2MnAl films

Despite of the great scientific and technology interest, highly ordered full-Heusler L21-Co2MnAl films have remained a big challenge in terms of the availability and the electrical transport. Here we report the controllable growth and the intriguing transport behavior of epitaxial L21-Co2MnAl films, which exhibit a low-temperature (T) resistivity upturn with a pronounced T1/2 dependence, a robust independence of magnetic fields, and a close relevance to structural disorder. The resistivity upturn turns out to be qualitatively contradictory to weak localization, particle-particle channel electron-electron interaction (EEI), and orbital two-channel Kondo effect, leaving a three-dimensional particle-hole channel EEI the most likely physical source. Our result highlights a considerable tunability of the structural and electronic disorder of magnetic films by varying growth temperature, affording unprecedented insights into the origin of the resistivity upturn.

Pressure-induced superconductivity in Bi single crystals

Measurements on resistivity and magnetic susceptibility have been carried out for Bi single crystals under pressures up to 10.5GPa. The temperature dependent resistivity shows a semimetallic behavior at ambient and low pressures (below about 1.6GPa). This is followed by an upturn of resistivity in low temperature region when the pressure is increased, which is explained as a semiconductor behavior. This feature gradually gets enhanced up to a pressure of about 2.52GPa. Then a non-monotonic temperature dependent resistivity appears upon further increasing pressure, which is accompanied by a strong suppression to the low temperature resistivity upturn. Simultaneously, a superconducting transition occurs at about 3.92K under a pressure of about 2.63GPa. With further increasing pressure, a second superconducting transition emerges at about 7K under about 2.8GPa. For these two superconducting states, the superconductivity induced magnetic screening volumes are quite large. As the pressure further increased to 8.1GPa, we observe the third superconducting transition at about 8.2K. The resistivity measurements under magnetic field allow us to determine the upper critical fields $\mu_0 H_{c2}$ of the superconducting phases. The upper critical field for the phase with $T_c=3.92$K is extremely low. Based on the Werthamer-Helfand-Hohenberg (WHH) theory, the estimated value of $\mu_0 H_{c2}$ for this phase is about 0.103T. While the upper critical field for the phase with $T_c$=7K is very high with a value of about 4.56T. Finally, we present a pressure dependent phase diagram of Bi single crystals. Our results reveal the interesting and rich physics in bismuth single crystals under high pressure.

Low-temperature Hall effect in bismuth chalcogenides thin films

Bismuth chalcogenides are the most studied 3D topological insulators. As a rule, at low temperatures thin films of these materials demonstrate positive magnetoresistance due to weak antilocalization. Weak antilocalization should lead to resistivity decrease at low temperatures; in experiments, however, resistivity grows as temperature decreases. From transport measurements for several thin films (with various carrier density, thickness, and carrier mobility), and by using purely phenomenological approach, with no microscopic theory, we show that the low temperature growth of the resistivity is accompanied by growth of the Hall coefficient, in agreement with diffusive electron-electron interaction correction mechanism. Our data reasonably explain the low-temperature resistivity upturn.

Interfacial phase competition induced Kondo-like effect in manganite-insulator composites

Kondo-like effect, namely the upturn of resistivity at low temperatures, has been observed in perovskite manganite when nonmagnetic insulators were doped as the secondary phase. In this paper, the low-temperature resistivity upturn effect was argued to be originated from the interfacial magnetic phase reconstruction. Heisenberg spin lattices have been simulated using Monte Carlo method to reveal the phase competition around the secondary phase boundary, namely the manganite-insulator boundary behaves a weak antiferromagnetic tendency. And the resistor-network model based on the double-exchange conductive mechanism indeed reproduces the low-temperature resistivity upturn effect. Our work provide a reasonable physical mechanism to understand novel transport behaviors in micro-structures of correlated electron systems.

Observation of resistivity minimum at low temperature inCoxCu1−x(x∼0.17–0.76) nanostructured granular alloys

Electrical resistivity of nanostructured granular alloys ${\mathrm{Co}}_{x}{\mathrm{Cu}}_{1\ensuremath{-}x}$ ($x\ensuremath{\sim}0.01$--$0.76$) prepared by the chemical reduction method is investigated in the temperature range 2--300 K. The samples with a low cobalt content of $x\ensuremath{\le}0.1$ show a metallic resistivity behavior. For samples with a higher cobalt content, $x\ensuremath{\ge}0.17$, the resistivity shows a minimum. The minimum becomes more pronounced as Co content ($x$) increases and also as the temperature of minimum resistivity, ${T}_{\text{min}}$, increases with $x$. The resistivity minimum is obtained in this magnetic alloy system even for a cobalt concentration as high as $\ensuremath{\sim}76%$. Application of an external magnetic field has a negligible effect on the resistivity behavior. Detailed analysis suggests that the low-temperature upturn in resistivity most probably arises due to elastic electron-electron interaction (the quantum-interference effect). Magnetic measurements at 4 K on the same samples show the absence of long-range magnetic interaction and evidence of increasing magnetic disorder as $x$ increases beyond $\ensuremath{\sim}10%$. Combining the results of the two types of measurements, a model of formation of these alloy particles involving random clusters of Co atoms within the Cu matrix has been proposed.

Insulating Nature of Strongly Correlated Massless Dirac Fermions in an Organic Crystal.

Through resistivity measurements of an organic crystal hosting massless Dirac fermions with a charge-ordering instability, we reveal the effect of interactions among massless Dirac fermions on the charge transport. A low-temperature resistivity upturn appears robustly irrespective of the pressure and is enhanced while approaching the critical pressure of charge ordering, indicating that the insulating behavior originates from short-range Coulomb interactions. The observation of an apparently vanishing gap in the charge-ordered phase accords with the theoretical prediction of nontopological edge states.

Thickness Dependent Properties of Sr2FeMoO6 Thin Films Grown on SrTiO3 and (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 Substrates

Pure, fully textured and c-axis oriented Sr2FeMoO6 films were deposited on SrTiO3 and (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 substrates with different thicknesses. A decrease in substrate induced strain was observed in films on SrTiO3 with increasing thickness, but the strain in the films on (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 was nearly constant within the whole film thickness range. Despite the differences in the strain, the magnetic properties of the films showed similar thickness dependence on both substrates. The saturation magnetization and Curie temperature increased until around 150nm thickness was reached. Semiconducting low temperature upturn in resistivity was observed in all the films and it was enhanced in the thinnest films. Thus, the band gap energy increases with increasing film thickness. According to these results, at least 150nm thickness is required for high quality Sr2FeMoO6 films.