Superconducting Strontium Titanate Thin Films
Research supported by the Office of Naval Research
Introduction
Undoped strontium titanate (SrTiO3) is an insulator with a band gap of 3.2 eV and a very high dielectric constant. It may be doped n-type by introducing impurities of either niobium or lanthanum, and in good quality samples the carriers thus introduced do not freeze out at low temperatures. It was discovered in 1964 that below a few hundred millikelvins n-type strontium titanate becomes a superconductor. Ever since, this unusual oxide superconductor has attracted interest because of its unique combination of properties: semiconduction, very low carrier density, and high dielectric constant. Our research in this area, done in collaboration with Prof. Charles Rogers, has focused on the growth and transport properties of high quality thin films, with applications to HTS heterostructures.
More Information
A paper on superconductivity in Nb-doped strontium titanate films, and a paper on normal-state transport
A more recent paper showing that La-doped material is more oxygen tolerent
See John Price's vita for a complete list of our publications
Current Participants
David Olaya, Graduate Student
John Price, Professor
Past Participants
Arnold Leitner, Graduate Student
David Herman, Undergraduate