Metal-insulator transition and electrically-driven memristive characteristics of SmNiO3 thin films

摘要

The correlated oxide SmNiO3 (SNO) exhibits an insulator to metal transition(MIT) at 130 {\deg}C in bulk form. We report on synthesis and electrontransport in SNO films deposited on LaAlO3 (LAO) and Si single crystals. X-raydiffraction studies show that compressively strained single-phase SNO growsepitaxially on LAO while on Si, mixed oxide phases are observed. MIT isobserved in resistance-temperature measurements in films grown on bothsubstrates, with charge transport in-plane for LAO/SNO films and out-of-planefor Si/SNO films. Electrically-driven memristive behavior is realized inLAO/SNO films, suggesting that SNO may be relevant for neuromorphic devices.