Dependence of the conductivity noise of metallic oxide interconnects on the oxygen stoichiometry: a study of LaNiO3-delta

We report measurements of low-frequency conductivity noise over the temperature range 4.2-400 K in epitaxial thin films of LaNiO3-delta which is a potential material for metallic oxide interconnects. The observed spectral power of the noise has a frequency spectrum alpha 1/f(alpha) where 0.7 < alpha < 1.5, and it depends strongly on the temperature as well as on the oxygen stoichiometry, delta. Contrary to expectations, we made the interesting observation that the magnitude of the noise at room temperature does not increase monotonically with the oxygen deficiency delta. Instead it shows a minimum at certain non-zero values of delta unlike the resistivity which is minimum at delta approximate to 0