Strain control of the metal-insulator transition in epitaxial SrCrO$_{3}$ thin films

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how substrate-induced strain can control the metal-insulator transition in epitaxial SrCrO3 thin films, highlighting the role of strain and growth conditions in tuning electronic properties.

Contribution

It introduces a method to grow high-quality strained SrCrO3 thin films and shows strain-driven metal-insulator transition, advancing understanding of strain effects in oxide electronics.

Findings

Strain induces a metal-insulator transition in SrCrO3 films.

High-quality films were grown on three different substrates.

Strain effects were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and AFM.

Abstract

In the perovskite oxide SrCrO$_{3}$ the interplay between crystal structure, strain and orbital ordering enables a transition from a metallic to an insulating electronic structure under certain conditions. We identified a narrow window of oxygen partial pressure in which highly strained SrCrO$_{3}$ thin films can be grown using radio-frequency (RF) off-axis magnetron sputtering on three different substrates, (LaAlO$_{3}$)$_{0.3}$-(Sr$_{2}$TaAlO$_{6}$)$_{0.7}$ (LSAT), SrTiO$_{3}$ (STO) and DyScO$_{3}$ (DSO). X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy confirmed the quality of the films and a metal-insulator transition driven by the substrate induced strain was demonstrated.