Properties of epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films

SrRuO3 thin films were deposited on (100) LaAlO3 using pulsed laser deposition. The films were (001) oriented normal to the substrate surface with a high degree of in-plane orientation with respect to the substrate’s major axes. An ion beam minimum yield of 2.5% was obtained for the films, indicating high crystallinity. The films exhibited metallic behavior with a room temperature resistivity of ∼200 mW cm. A kink in the resistivity, corresponding to a ferromagnetic phase transition, was observed at ∼160 K. It was found that SrRuO3 is structurally and chemically compatible with the YaB2Cu3O7−d (YBCO) superconductors. High quality YBCO films were obtained on SrRuO3 LaAlO3. Multilayers of YBCO/SrRuO3 were successfully fabricated.