PNNL

Abstract

We have investigated the evolution of the structural and electronic properties of La1-xSrxCrO3 (0 = x = 1) epitaxial films deposited by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) using x-ray diffraction, x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, x-ray absorption spectroscopy, electrical transport, and ab initio modeling. LaCrO3 is an antiferromagnetic Mott insulator whereas stoichiometric SrCrO3 is a metal. Substituting Sr2+ for La3+ in LaCrO3 effectively dopes holes into the top of valence band, leading to Cr4+ (3d2) local electron configurations. Core-level and valence-band features monotonically shift to lower binding energy with increasing x, indicating downward movement of the Fermi level toward the valence band maximum. An insulator-to-metal like transition is observed at x = 0. 65 even as the material becomes a p-type semiconductor at lower doping level and eventually becomes degenerately doped. Valence band x-ray photoemission spectroscopy reveals diminution of electronic state density at the top of the valence band while O K-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy shows the development of a new unoccupied state above the Fermi level as holes are doped into LaCrO3. These results indicate a pronounced redistribution of electronic state density of states upon hole doping, a result that is also obtained by density functional theory with a Hubbard U correction.