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arXiv · 1406.6640

Compressive strain-induced metal-insulator transition in orthorhombic SrIrO3 thin films

J. H. Gruenewald·J. Nichols·J. Terzic·G. Cao·J. W. Brill·S. S. A. Seo
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Abstract

We have investigated the electronic properties of epitaxial orthorhombic SrIrO3 thin-films under compressive strain. The metastable, orthorhombic SrIrO3 thin-films are synthesized on various substrates using an epi-stabilization technique. We have observed that as in-plane lattice compression is increased, the dc-resistivity (\r{ho}) of the thin films increases by a few orders of magnitude, and the d\r{ho}/dT changes from positive to negative values. However, optical absorption spectra show Drude-like, metallic responses without an optical gap opening for all compressively-strained thin films. Transport measurements under magnetic fields show negative magneto-resistance at low temperature for compressively-strained thin-films. Our results suggest that weak localization is responsible for the strain-induced metal-insulator transition for the orthorhombic SrIrO3 thin-films.

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J. H. Gruenewald, J. Nichols, J. Terzic, G. Cao, J. W. Brill, S. S. A. Seo. 2014-06-25. Compressive strain-induced metal-insulator transition in orthorhombic SrIrO3 thin films. https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2014.288

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