Metal-insulator transition in low dimensional La_(0.75)Sr_(0.25)VO_3 thin films

摘要

We report on the metal-insulator transition that occurs as a function of him thickness in ultrathin La_(0.75)Sr_(0.25)VO_3 films. The metal-insulator transition displays a critical thickness of 5 unit cell. Above the critical thickness, metallic films exhibit a temperature driven metal-insulator transition with weak localization behavior. With decreasing film thickness, oxygen octahedron rotation in the films increases, causing enhanced electron-electron correlation. The electron-electron correlations in ultrathin films induce the transition from metal to insulator in addition to Anderson localization.