Enhanced metallic properties of SrRuO3 thin films via kinetically controlled pulsed laser epitaxy

J. Thompson; J. Nichols; S. Lee; S. Ryee; J. H. Gruenewald; J. G. Connell; M. Souri; J. M. Johnson; J. Hwang; M. J. Han; H. N. Lee; D. W. Kim; S. S.A. Seo

doi:10.1063/1.4964882

Enhanced metallic properties of SrRuO₃ thin films via kinetically controlled pulsed laser epitaxy

J. Thompson, J. Nichols, S. Lee, S. Ryee, J. H. Gruenewald, J. G. Connell, M. Souri, J. M. Johnson, J. Hwang, M. J. Han, H. N. Lee, D. W. Kim, S. S.A. Seo

Materials Science and Technology Div

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metal electrodes are a universal element of all electronic devices. Conducting SrRuO₃ (SRO) epitaxial thin films have been extensively used as electrodes in complex-oxide heterostructures due to good lattice mismatches with perovskite substrates. However, when compared to SRO single crystals, SRO thin films have shown reduced conductivity and Curie temperatures (T_C), which can lead to higher Joule heating and energy loss in the devices. Here, we report that high-quality SRO thin films can be synthesized by controlling the plume dynamics and growth rate of pulsed laser epitaxy (PLE) with real-time optical spectroscopic monitoring. The SRO thin films grown under the kinetically controlled conditions, down to ca. 16 nm in thickness, exhibit both enhanced conductivity and T_C as compared to bulk values, due to their improved stoichiometry and a strain-mediated increase of the bandwidth of Ru 4d electrons. This result provides a direction for enhancing the physical properties of PLE-grown thin films and paves a way to improved device applications.

Original language	English
Article number	161902
Journal	Applied Physics Letters
Volume	109
Issue number	16
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4964882
State	Published - Oct 17 2016

Funding

We acknowledge the support of the National Science Foundation Grant No. DMR-1454200 for the sample syntheses and characterizations. S.R. and M.J.H. were supported by the Basic Science Research Program through NRF (2014R1A1A2057202), and the computing resource is supported by KISTI (KSC-2014-C2-046). The XRD measurements performed at ORNL were supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering Division.

Funders	Funder number
National Science Foundation	1454200, DMR-1454200
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Basic Energy Sciences
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering
Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information	KSC-2014-C2-046
National Research Foundation of Korea	2014R1A1A2057202

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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Cite this

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title = "Enhanced metallic properties of SrRuO3 thin films via kinetically controlled pulsed laser epitaxy",

abstract = "Metal electrodes are a universal element of all electronic devices. Conducting SrRuO3 (SRO) epitaxial thin films have been extensively used as electrodes in complex-oxide heterostructures due to good lattice mismatches with perovskite substrates. However, when compared to SRO single crystals, SRO thin films have shown reduced conductivity and Curie temperatures (TC), which can lead to higher Joule heating and energy loss in the devices. Here, we report that high-quality SRO thin films can be synthesized by controlling the plume dynamics and growth rate of pulsed laser epitaxy (PLE) with real-time optical spectroscopic monitoring. The SRO thin films grown under the kinetically controlled conditions, down to ca. 16 nm in thickness, exhibit both enhanced conductivity and TC as compared to bulk values, due to their improved stoichiometry and a strain-mediated increase of the bandwidth of Ru 4d electrons. This result provides a direction for enhancing the physical properties of PLE-grown thin films and paves a way to improved device applications.",

author = "J. Thompson and J. Nichols and S. Lee and S. Ryee and Gruenewald, {J. H.} and Connell, {J. G.} and M. Souri and Johnson, {J. M.} and J. Hwang and Han, {M. J.} and Lee, {H. N.} and Kim, {D. W.} and Seo, {S. S.A.}",

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AU - Connell, J. G.

AU - Souri, M.

AU - Johnson, J. M.

AU - Hwang, J.

AU - Han, M. J.

AU - Lee, H. N.

AU - Kim, D. W.

AU - Seo, S. S.A.

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N2 - Metal electrodes are a universal element of all electronic devices. Conducting SrRuO3 (SRO) epitaxial thin films have been extensively used as electrodes in complex-oxide heterostructures due to good lattice mismatches with perovskite substrates. However, when compared to SRO single crystals, SRO thin films have shown reduced conductivity and Curie temperatures (TC), which can lead to higher Joule heating and energy loss in the devices. Here, we report that high-quality SRO thin films can be synthesized by controlling the plume dynamics and growth rate of pulsed laser epitaxy (PLE) with real-time optical spectroscopic monitoring. The SRO thin films grown under the kinetically controlled conditions, down to ca. 16 nm in thickness, exhibit both enhanced conductivity and TC as compared to bulk values, due to their improved stoichiometry and a strain-mediated increase of the bandwidth of Ru 4d electrons. This result provides a direction for enhancing the physical properties of PLE-grown thin films and paves a way to improved device applications.

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