Abstract
Structural and electronic properties of stoichiometric single-phase CrN(001) thin films grown on MgO(001) substrates by radio-frequency N plasma-assisted molecular-beam epitaxy, are investigated. In situ room-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy clearly shows the 1×1 atomic periodicity of the crystal structure as well as long-range topographic distortions which are characteristic of a semiconductor surface. This semiconductor behavior is consistent with ex situ resistivity measurements over the range 285 K and higher, whereas below 260 K, metallic behavior is observed. The resistivity-derived band gap for the high-temperature region, 71 meV, is consistent with the tunneling spectroscopy results. The observed electronic (semiconductor/metal) transition temperature coincides with the temperature of the known coincident magnetic (para-antiferro) and structural (cubic-orthorhombic) phase transitions.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 6371-6373 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume | 85 |
| Issue number | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 27 Dec 2004 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant Nos. 9983816 and 0304314. The authors acknowledge useful discussions with H. Al-Brithen, and H. H. Richardson.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)
