Tensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO3 thin films on (100) KTaO3 substrates

Tensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO3 thin films on (100) KTaO3 substrates | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Tensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO 3 thin films on (100) KTaO 3 substrates Km Alka, Shital Chauhan, Sandeep Singh, P. K. Siwach, H. K. Singh This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract SrRuO 3 (SRO) thin (~ 12 nm) films have been grown on KTaO 3 (001) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The as-prepared films are under enormous in-plane tensile strain, which corresponds to the elastic energy of ~ 1.5 MJ. Annealing in oxygen at 900 °C for 6 hr relaxes strain, partially lowering the elastic energy. The surface topography shows a transition from granularity as the Ar + O 2 pressure increases from 5 mTorr to 200 mTorr, with a simultaneous change in the average surface roughness from 4 nm to 0.8 nm. Annealing transforms the topography to island-type and enhances surface roughness. The films deposited at 5 mTorr are semiconducting, and annealing further enhances the resistivity, but the overall temperature dependence of resistivity (ρ-T) remains semiconducting. The ρ-T of films grown at 200 mTorr shows a metallic behavior with an inflection in the ρ-T at T C ~150 K, indicating the Curie transition. The resistivity upturn at lower temperatures shows the disordered nature of these films. Thus that large tensile strain causes strong disorder and hence is inimical to metallicity. The ρ-T behavior of the films grown at 5 mTorr follows the eq. \(\:\rho\:\left(T\right)=\frac{1}{{\sigma\:}_{0}+a{T}^{\frac{1}{2}}+{a}_{1}{T}^{\frac{p}{2}}}+b{T}^{\alpha\:}\) in the range 2K-300K with p=2 and α = 2. In the 200 mTorr deposited film, the above eq. is valid at T<95 K with p=2 and α = 1.5. At T C <T≤300 K, the ρ-T follows eq. \(\:{\rho\:}\left(\text{T}\right)={{\rho\:}}_{0}+\:{{\rho\:}}_{1}{\text{T}}^{{\alpha\:}}\) with α = 1.3 and 1.5 for the as-grown and annealed films. The lower temperature ρ-T upturn appears to be due to either the disorder-enhanced renormalized e-e interaction (REEI) or weak localization (WL) effects. The temperature and magnetic field-dependent magnetoresistance evidence a substantial WL effect in the films grown at 200 mTorr. Our results establish a strong correlation between the nature of strain, surface topography, and carrier transport mechanisms. Hard Condensed-matter Physics Magnetics Materials and Devices SrRuO3 Thin Films Tensile Strain Weak Localization Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-4713845","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":324851354,"identity":"09e9cd7c-0e25-499b-bc00-382360206a6b","order_by":0,"name":"Km Alka","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"1CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India 2Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Km","middleName":"","lastName":"Alka","suffix":""},{"id":324851355,"identity":"d6f3b2cd-d703-4ef2-9225-372623bd94dd","order_by":1,"name":"Shital Chauhan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"3Swargiya Shri Jai Dutt Wailla Govt. P.G. College, Ranikhet, Uttarakhand-263645, India","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Shital","middleName":"","lastName":"Chauhan","suffix":""},{"id":324851356,"identity":"feec8592-8001-4e5f-9170-b42423c83024","order_by":2,"name":"Sandeep Singh","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sandeep","middleName":"","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""},{"id":324851357,"identity":"86f269cf-7b38-4700-881f-8d429b7a1c33","order_by":3,"name":"P. K. 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Krishnan Marg, New Delhi-110012, India","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"H.","middleName":"K.","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-07-09 17:50:34","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":false,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false,"humanSubjectConsent":false,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":false,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":60040544,"identity":"9d55029b-f750-4b8f-9630-621f6e5e6bd2","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2024-07-11 02:48:26","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2632761,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ManuscriptAlkaJune24.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-4713845/v1_covered_017ebfeb-4e48-4320-862c-e5efc2fef80d.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO\u003c/strong\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e thin films on (100) KTaO\u003c/strong\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e substrates\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[{"identity":"0f89140e-582f-4b04-b54f-f3bdf3421f3d","identifier":"10.13039/501100001412","name":"Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India","awardNumber":"PSSC0110","order_by":0}],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"CSIR-National Physical Laboratory","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"SrRuO3 Thin Films, Tensile Strain, Weak Localization","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eSrRuO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e (SRO) thin (~\u0026thinsp;12 nm) films have been grown on KTaO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e (001) substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The as-prepared films are under enormous in-plane tensile strain, which corresponds to the elastic energy of ~\u0026thinsp;1.5 MJ. Annealing in oxygen at 900 \u0026deg;C for 6 hr relaxes strain, partially lowering the elastic energy. The surface topography shows a transition from granularity as the Ar\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;O\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e pressure increases from 5 mTorr to 200 mTorr, with a simultaneous change in the average surface roughness from 4 nm to 0.8 nm. Annealing transforms the topography to island-type and enhances surface roughness. The films deposited at 5 mTorr are semiconducting, and annealing further enhances the resistivity, but the overall temperature dependence of resistivity (ρ-T) remains semiconducting. The ρ-T of films grown at 200 mTorr shows a metallic behavior with an inflection in the ρ-T at T\u003csub\u003eC\u003c/sub\u003e~150 K, indicating the Curie transition. The resistivity upturn at lower temperatures shows the disordered nature of these films. Thus that large tensile strain causes strong disorder and hence is inimical to metallicity. The ρ-T behavior of the films grown at 5 mTorr follows the eq.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:\\rho\\:\\left(T\\right)=\\frac{1}{{\\sigma\\:}_{0}+a{T}^{\\frac{1}{2}}+{a}_{1}{T}^{\\frac{p}{2}}}+b{T}^{\\alpha\\:}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e in the range 2K-300K with p=2 and α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2. In the 200 mTorr deposited film, the above eq.\u0026nbsp;is valid at T\u0026lt;95 K with p=2 and α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.5. At T\u003csub\u003eC\u003c/sub\u003e\u0026lt;T\u0026le;300 K, the ρ-T follows eq.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\rho\\:}\\left(\\text{T}\\right)={{\\rho\\:}}_{0}+\\:{{\\rho\\:}}_{1}{\\text{T}}^{{\\alpha\\:}}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e with α\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.3 and 1.5 for the as-grown and annealed films. The lower temperature ρ-T upturn appears to be due to either the disorder-enhanced renormalized e-e interaction (REEI) or weak localization (WL) effects. The temperature and magnetic field-dependent magnetoresistance evidence a substantial WL effect in the films grown at 200 mTorr. Our results establish a strong correlation between the nature of strain, surface topography, and carrier transport mechanisms.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Tensile strain-induced disorder and weak localization in SrRuO3 thin films on (100) KTaO3 substrates","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2024-07-11 02:40:14","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-4713845/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"9579f1fc-7d5e-4e62-8c0f-df789605c1cd","owner":[],"postedDate":"July 11th, 2024","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":34362403,"name":"Hard Condensed-matter Physics"},{"id":34362404,"name":"Magnetics Materials and Devices"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2024-07-11T02:40:15+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2024-07-11 02:40:14","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-4713845","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-4713845","identity":"rs-4713845","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"qtupq5eGEP_6zYnWcrvyt","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}