Thickness and oxygen pressure dependent electrical transport properties in SrMoO3 thin films

Abstract

High-quality SrMoO₃ films were synthesized using pulsed laser deposition under controlled oxygen pressure conditions. The 32-nm films consistently demonstrated metallic behavior across all oxygen pressures investigated. The 16-nm films exhibited increased resistivity at 4.9 K and 13.8 K when deposited at 10⁻⁴ Torr and 10⁻³ Torr, respectively. Metal-insulator transitions were observed at critical temperatures of 19.8 K, 25.8 K, and 27.8 K for 10-nm films grown under different oxygen pressures. The electronic structure and electrical transport properties become increasingly sensitive to oxygen pressure variations with decreasing film thickness. This sensitivity explains the occurrence of metal–insulator transitions in 10-nm films under different oxygen conditions.