A Laser-ARPES Study of LaNiO3 Thin Films Grown by Sputter Deposition
Open accessAbstract
Thin films of the correlated transition-metal oxide LaNiO3 undergo a metal–insulator transition when their thickness is reduced to a few unit cells. Here, we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study the evolution of the electronic structure across this transition in a series of epitaxial LaNiO3 films of thicknesses ranging from 19 u.c. to 2 u.c. grown in situ by RF magnetron sputtering. Our data show a strong reduction in the electronic mean free path as the thickness is reduced below 5 u.c. This prevents the system from becoming electronically two-dimensional, as confirmed by the largely unchanged Fermi surface seen in our experiments. In the insulating state, we observe a strong suppression of the coherent quasiparticle peak, but no clear gap. These features resemble previous observations of the insulating state of NdNiO3.
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The mean free path of charge carriers in LNO is about 30-40 Å.
“The film resistivity depends strongly both on oxygen deficiency and scattering of charge carries on the grain boundaries (the mean free path of charge carries in LNO is about 30–40 Å [91]).”
From Control of Columnar Grain Microstructure in CSD LaNiO3 Films (2023) · cites this paper as [91]
The discussion of Fig. 3(b) reports that the ARPES-derived carrier mean free path rises from about 10 to 30 Å in films up to 5 unit cells thick and saturates below about 40 Å in thicker films. The cited 30–40 Å range is therefore reasonable for thicker films, but not for LNO films generally; the paper also cautions that ARPES may give a lower value than transport measurements. (LLM, conf=0.86)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe film resistivity depends strongly both on oxygen deficiency and scattering of charge carriers on the grain boundaries.
“The film resistivity depends strongly both on oxygen deficiency and scattering of charge carries on the grain boundaries (the mean free path of charge carries in LNO is about 30–40 Å [91]).”
From Control of Columnar Grain Microstructure in CSD LaNiO3 Films (2023) · cites this paper as [91]
In the discussion of Fig. 3 (page unavailable), the paper says oxygen vacancies can limit the carrier mean free path and reports that a shorter mean free path coincides with a resistivity upturn. It does not identify grain-boundary scattering as a strong contributor to resistivity; instead, it says defects alone cannot explain the abrupt thickness dependence and points to fluctuations near the metal–insulator transition. The copy also presents mean free path as thickness-dependent, not as a general 30–40 Å value. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
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Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
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Cites
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
Control of Columnar Grain Microstructure in CSD LaNiO3 Films
Atanova, A. V., Seregin, D. S., Zhigalina, O. M., Khmelenin, D. N., Orlov, G. A., Turkina, D. I., Sigov, A. S., & Vorotilov, K. A. (2023) · Molecules · doi:10.3390/molecules28041938 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cappelli, E., Tromp, W. O., McKeown Walker, S., Tamai, A., Gibert, M., Baumberger, F., & Bruno, F. Y.
- Affiliations
- University of Geneva (CH)
- Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva 1 , 24 Quai Ernest-Ansermet, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland
- Corresponding author
- Cappelli, Edoardo
- Venue
- APL Materials
- Publisher
- AIP Publishing
- Published
- 2020-05-01
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 5
- ISSN
- 2166-532X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3004972130
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 2
- FWCI
- 0.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- APL Materials (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- DORA PSI (Paul Scherrer Institute) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Archive ouverte UNIGE (University of Geneva) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- Swiss National Science Foundation (PZ00P2-161327, 165791, 184998)
- Comunidad de Madrid (2018-T1/IND-10521)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Materials Chemistry › Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides
- Physical Sciences › Materials Science › Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials › Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Condensed Matter Physics › Physics of Superconductivity and Magnetism
- Keywords
- LaNiO3, thin films, metal-insulator transition, electron mean free path, Fermi surface, electronic structure, sputter deposition, epitaxial thin films, correlated oxides, NdNiO3
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