Epitaxial growth of semiconducting LaVO₃ thin films

Epitaxial thin films of LaVO₃ were grown on (001) LaAlO₃ substrates by pulsed laser deposition from a LaVO₄ target in a vacuum ambient at substrate temperatures ≥500 °C. X-ray diffraction studies showed that epitaxial LaVO₃ films consist of mixed domains of [110] and [001] orientations. Thermoprobe and four-probe conductivity measurements demonstrated the p-type semiconducting behavior of the epitaxial LaVO₃ films. The temperature dependence of the conductivity is consistent with a thermally activated hopping mechanism with an activation barrier of 0.16 eV.