Tuning electromagnetic properties of SrRuO3 epitaxial thin films via atomic control of cation vacancies

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how controlling cation and oxygen vacancies during pulsed laser epitaxy can systematically tune the structural, electrical, and magnetic properties of SrRuO3 epitaxial thin films, revealing the impact of elemental defects.

Contribution

It introduces a method to precisely engineer cation vacancies in SrRuO3 thin films through oxygen partial pressure control during growth, affecting their physical properties.

Findings

Ru vacancies cause lattice expansion and lower ferromagnetic TC.

Sr vacancies disrupt ferromagnetic ordering.

Vacancy engineering allows property tailoring in complex oxides.

Abstract

Elemental defects in transition metal oxides is an important and intriguing subject that result in modifications in variety of physical properties including atomic and electronic structure, optical and magnetic properties. Understanding the formation of elemental vacancies and their influence on different physical properties is essential in studying the complex oxide thin films. In this study, we investigated the physical properties of epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films by systematically manipulating cation and/or oxygen vacancies, via changing the oxygen partial pressure (P(O2)) during the pulsed laser epitaxy (PLE) growth. Ru vacancies in the low-P(O2)-grown SrRuO3 thin films induce lattice expansion with the suppression of the ferromagnetic TC down to ~120 K. Sr vacancies also disturb the ferromagnetic ordering, even though Sr is not a magnetic element. Our results indicate that both A and B cation vacancies in an ABO3 perovskite can be systematically engineered via PLE, and the structural, electrical, and magnetic properties can be tailored accordingly.