Epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films on (001) SrTiO3

Highly conductive metallic oxide thin films of SrRuO3 with single crystalline quality have been grown on (001) SrTiO3 by using pulsed laser deposition. The films have a [001] orientation with an in-plane relationship of [110](SrRuo3)//[100](SrTiO3). They have excellent metallic behavior with room temperature resistivity of similar to 310 mu Omega cm and a residual resistance ratio of about 7 at 4.2 K, the largest reported to date. A clear ferromagnetic transition at similar to 147 K was detected by resistivity and magnetic measurements. However, the transition becomes blurred as the density-of-point defects increases in the films following a 400 keV proton irradiation with an accumulative dose up to similar to 6.0 X 10(16) ions/cm(2). (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.