Strain dependent stabilization of metallic paramagnetic state in epitaxial NdNiO3 thin films

Abstract

We report here the strain dependent study of epitaxial NdNiO3 films deposited on LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Electrical transport and magnetic properties of films are found to be controlled by the substrate induced strain. NdNiO3 film on SrTiO3 substrate exhibits behaviour similar to that of bulk NdNiO3, while stabilization of low temperature metallic paramagnetic phase has been observed for film deposited on LaAlO3 substrate. Invariance of Raman spectra, with temperature, of the film on LaAlO3 reveals that the melting of charge ordering under compressive strain is responsible for the stabilization of metallic phase at lower temperature.