Control of the metal-to-insulator transition by substrate orientation in nickelates
J. J. Peng,
B. Ouyang,
H. Y. Liu,
C. S. Hao,
S. S. Tang,
Y. D. Gu,
Y. Yan
Affiliations
J. J. Peng
Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, P. R. China
B. Ouyang
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States of America
H. Y. Liu
Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, P. R. China
C. S. Hao
Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, P. R. China
S. S. Tang
School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 637371, Singapore
Y. D. Gu
Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, P. R. China
Y. Yan
Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, Beijing 100095, P. R. China
We proved that the critical thickness for metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) of LaNiO3 could be controlled by substrate orientation. By means of density functional theory calculations, films grown on SrTiO3 substrates with (001), (110) and (111) orientations have different amount of charge transfer across the interface. Different charge transfer induces different interfacial conductivity behavior and at the same time modifies the carrier density of adjacent LaNiO3 films. The manipulation of MIT by substrate orientation can be achieved through interfacial charge transfer induced interfacial conductive layer with the modified conductivity of LNO layer.
