Manipulation of the electronic transport properties of charge-transfer oxide thin films of NdNi O3 using static and electric-field-controllable dynamic lattice strain

Using perovskite-type charge-transfer oxide thin films of NdNiO3 (NNO) as a model system, we demonstrate that the effects of lattice strain on the electronic transport properties can be more comprehensively understood by growing NNO films on a number of (001)-, (011)-, and (111)-cut single-crystal substrates with different lattice mismatches including the relaxor-based 0.31Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.35Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.34PbTiO3 (PIN-PMN-PT) and 0.71Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.29PbTiO3 (PMN-PT) ferroelectric (FE) single crystals. In addition to the static lattice strains from conventional substrates (e.g., SrTiO3, LaAlO3), we in situ impose in-plane compressive or tensile strains to NNO films using FE/ferroelastic domain switching of FE substrates. An unprecedented electric-field-induced large out-of-plane compressive strain (-0.53%) and in-plane tensile strain (+0.81%) are achieved in the 25-nm NNO film by switching the polarization direction of the PIN-PMN-PT substrate at T = 200 K. This value is approximately 7.4 to 45 times larger than those previously reported in FE substrate-based heterostructures. As a result of the induced large lattice strain, the resistivity of the NNO film is modulated up to 125%. Further, taking advantage of the linear piezoelectric strain, a quantitative relationship between the resistivity and the in-plane strain of the NNO film is established, with a gauge fact of (Δρ/ρ)/δϵxx∼40.8. Moreover, using the domain-engineered FE/ferroelastic switching of PMN-PT substrates, multiple stable resistance states with good retention and endurance properties can be obtained at room temperature and the metal-to-insulator transition temperature (T_MI) of NNO films can be modified by precisely controlling the electric-field-pulse sequence as a result of the nonvolatile remnant strain transferring from the PMN-PT to the NNO film. Our results demonstrate that the electric-field-tunable ferroelastic/piezoelectric strain approach can be utilized to gain deeper insight into the intrinsic strain-property relationship of perovskite nickelate films and provide a simple and energy efficient way to construct multistate resistive memories.