Pulsed laser deposition of NdNiO3 thin films

We report the structural and transport properties of NdNiO3 thin films prepared via pulsed laser deposition over various substrates. The films were well textured and c-axis oriented with good crystalline properties. The electrical resistivity of the films undergoes a metal-insulator transition, depending on the deposition process. Well-defined first order metal-insulator phase transition (TMI) was observed in the best quality films without high pressure processing. Various growth conditions such as substrate temperature, oxygen pressure and thickness were varied to see their influence on TMI. Deposition temperature was found to have a great impact on the electrical and structural properties of these films. Further the films deposited on LaAlO3 substrate were found to be highly oriented with uniform grain size as observed from X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy, whereas those on Si substrate were polycrystalline, dense and randomly oriented.