Substrate-induced strain effects on the transport properties of pulsed laser-deposited Nb-doped SrTiO3 films

Abstract

Thin films of Nb-doped SrTiO3 (NSTO) are grown via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on LaAlO3 (LAO,001), MgAl2O4 (MAO,001), SrTiO3 (STO,001), and Y-stabilized ZrO2 (YSZ,001) substrates. The effects of the film-substrate lattice mismatch, film thickness, and substrate temperature during growth on the film properties are investigated. The electrical transport in NSTO films is shown to exhibit a strong sensitivity to strain, which is suggested to arise from the dependence of carrier mobility on bond distortions/stretching and related changes in phonon modes.