Effect of composition and strain on the electrical properties of LaNiO3 thin films

The Ni content of LaNi1−xO3 epitaxial thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition has been varied by ablation from targets with different composition. While tensile strain and Ni substoichiometry reduce the conductivity, nearly stoichiometric and unstrained films show reproducibly resistivities below 100 μΩ × cm. Since the thermodynamic instability of the Ni 3+ state drives defect formation, Ni defect engineering is the key to obtain highly conducting LaNiO3 thin films