Transport measurements on microcrystals of oriented CeIn3 and CeCoIn5 thin films

We present results of a systematic growth study on the substrate temperature-driven de-wetting of CeIn3 thin films as a reference compound for the heavy-fermion superconductor CeCoIn5. This study is motivated by the last results on the improved surface morphology and in-plane orientation preference of c-axis oriented CeCoIn5 thin films. In apparently phase pure CeIn3 thin films, as far as x-ray diffraction can tell, we find evidence for minor In segregation by means of percolating resistance contributions of In in the films. We argue that further efforts into improving the films' morphology towards optimized surfaces for the preparation of macroscopic planar tunnel junctions may be futile. As an alternative approach, we present results of electronic transport measurements on CeIn3 and CeCoIn5 microcrystals isolated from the thin films by means of focused particle beam induced processing, such as focused ion beam milling and deposition.