Epitaxial metallic LaNiO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Epitaxial LaNiO3(LNO) thin films on LaAlO3(LAO), SrTiO3(STO), and YSZ are grown by pulsed laser deposition method at 350 mTorr oxygen partial pressure and 700 °C substrate temperature. As-deposited LNO films are metallic down to 10 K. c-axis oriented YBa2Cu3O7 (YBCO) films were grown on LNO/LAO as well as LNO/STO surfaces without affecting superconducting transition temperature of YBCO. Textured LNO thin films were grown on c-axis oriented YBCO/STO and YBCO/YSZ . Transport measurements of these bilayer films showed that LNO is a good metallic contact material for YBCO.