Electrical Transport in Nanoscale Complex Oxide Thin Films: Strontium titanate and RNiO3

Complex oxide thin films have attracted significant attention due to a wealth of physical phenomena, such as ferroelectricity and Mott transitions arising from strong interactions in d-bands. Moreover, the physical phenomena observed in these materials exhibit sensitivities, which are not found in conventional semiconductors and give rise to abrupt changes in their physical properties. The richness of electronic phases and unique functionalities of complex oxides are attractive for applications in next-generation electronic devices. To realize new electronic devices with complex oxides, it is essential to understand the mechanisms of the electrical transport and to control the transport properties of complex oxide thin films.;In this dissertation, electrical transport phenomena and their electrical control are experimentally studied in two different complex oxide thin film systems, exhibiting resistive switching and Mott metal-insulator transitions.;The first part will briefly discuss resistive switching in ultrathin SrTiO3 tunnel junctions in metal-insulator-metal (MIM) geometry. The current-voltage characteristics provide hints of the origin of the resistive switching phenomena in SrTiO3 tunnel barriers, which are also relevant for resistive switching in thicker films.;The second part focuses on the control of metal-insulator transitions in RNiO3, where R = trivalent rare earth ion, using different strategies: band-width control and band-filling control. The electrical transport in low-dimensional, strongly correlated LaNiO3 is explored in terms of band-width control by strain and dimensionality. A new concept of band-filling control in nanoscale NdNiO3 thin films by modulation doping is discussed, and the experimental charge injection from high-quality La-doped SrTiO3 into NdNiO3 thin films is experimentally studied. The potential and limitations of a Modulation-doped Mott Field Effect Transistor (MM-FET) for future "Mott" electronic devices is discussed.