Electric field-induced superconducting transition of insulating FeSe thin film at 35 K

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that electric field application via an ionic liquid gate can induce high-temperature superconductivity at 35 K in insulating FeSe thin films, surpassing bulk Tc, by accumulating high electron carrier densities.

Contribution

It shows that electric double-layer transistors can induce high-Tc superconductivity in insulating FeSe films without chemical doping, revealing a new pathway to explore maximum Tc in parent materials.

Findings

Achieved 35 K superconductivity in insulating FeSe thin films.

High electron carrier density correlates with the superconducting transition.

EDLT effectively induces superconductivity without structural deterioration.

Abstract

It is thought that strong electron correlation in an insulating parent phase would enhance a critical temperature (Tc) of superconductivity in a doped phase via enhancement of the binding energy of a Cooper pair as known in high-Tc cuprates. To induce a superconductor transition in an insulating phase, injection of a high density of carriers is needed (e.g., by impurity doping). An electric double-layer transistor (EDLT) with an ionic liquid gate insulator enables such a field-induced transition to be investigated and is expected to result in a high Tc because it is free from deterioration in structure and carrier transport that are in general caused by conventional carrier doping (e.g., chemical substitution). Here, for insulating epitaxial thin films (~10 nm thick) of FeSe, we report a high Tc of 35 K, which is four times higher than that of bulk FeSe, using an EDLT under application of a gate bias of +5.5 V. Hall effect measurements under the gate bias suggest that highly accumulated electron carrier in the channel, whose area density is estimated to be 1.4x10^15 cm-2 (the average volume density of 1.7x10^21 cm-3), is the origin of the high-Tc superconductivity. This result demonstrates that EDLTs are useful tools to explore the ultimate Tc for insulating parent materials.