Highly Conductive SrVO₃ as a Bottom Electrode for Functional Perovskite Oxides

Abstract

Stoichiometric SrVO3 thin films grown by hybrid molecular beam epitaxy are demonstrated, meeting the stringent requirements of an ideal bottom electrode material. They display an order of magnitude lower room temperature resistivity and superior chemical stability, compared to the commonly employed SrRuO3 , as well as atomically smooth surfaces. Excellent structural compatibility with perovskite and related structures renders SrVO3 a high performance electrode material with the potential to promote the creation of new functional oxide electronic devices.

Intrinsic high electrical conductivity of stoichiometricSrNbO3epitaxial thin films

“…For example, the reported resistivity of SrNbO 3 [10][11][12] is one order of magnitude higher than that of SrVO 3 [13,14], a 3d TMO with the same d 1 configuration as SrNbO 3 , which runs contrary to the general expectation that 4d TMOs should have a higher conductivity than the 3d ones. So far, this phenomenon has yet to be explained.…”

Understanding and Controlling the Work Function of Perovskite Oxides Using Density Functional Theory

“…The atomic charges were calculated using Bader charge analysis of atomic charges of bulk ABO 3 materials. [35,36] Finally, we have also included in explore for the emission applications discussed in the introduction section by virtue of its low work function, metallic conductivity, ability to be synthesized as both a bulk powder [40,41] and (001)-oriented thin film, [42] and structural stability at high temperatures. [40,41,43] We therefore study SrVO 3 in more detail in Section 4.…”

Hybrid molecular beam epitaxy for the growth of complex oxide materials

“…HMBE has been successfully employed also for the growth of high-quality zirconates (Kajdos, Ouellette, Cain, & Stemmer, 2013) and vanadates (Moyer, Eaton, & Engel-Herbert, 2013), using alkoxide precursors. HMBE has been successfully employed also for the growth of high-quality zirconates (Kajdos, Ouellette, Cain, & Stemmer, 2013) and vanadates (Moyer, Eaton, & Engel-Herbert, 2013), using alkoxide precursors.…”

“…HMBE has been successfully employed also for the growth of high-quality zirconates (Kajdos, Ouellette, Cain, & Stemmer, 2013) and vanadates (Moyer, Eaton, & Engel-Herbert, 2013), using alkoxide precursors. The resulting electrical properties of the films are a testament to very high quality: room temperature resistivities of HMBE-grown SrVO 3 are nearly an order of magnitude lower than the resistivity of SrRuO 3 films, a commonly used metallic perovskite electrode material (Moyer et al, 2013). The successful growth of SrVO 3 using an MO precursor for V has also yielded improved electrical properties over previous efforts in thin-film growth (Moyer et al, 2013).…”

“…Metallic SrVO 3 is perovskite oxide of interest for applications in functional oxide heterostructures, and for the investigation of strong correlation effects. The resistivity ratio, [r 300 K /r 5 K ], of HMBE-grown SrVO 3 is also greater than that of SrVO 3 bulk single crystals by almost a factor of 4 (Moyer et al, 2013), which indicates a reduction in defect density and disorder in stoichiometric films. In this case, vanadium tri-isopropoxide was used as a volatile substitute for a solid V source, opening a growth window with self-regulating stoichiometry over a range of VTIP:Sr ratios.…”