Epitaxial growth of semiconducting LaVO3 thin films

Epitaxial thin films of LaVO3 were grown on (001) LaAlO3 substrates by puls ed laser deposition from a LaVO4 target in a vacuum ambient at substrate te mperatures greater than or equal to 500 degrees C, X-ray diffraction studie s showed that epitaxial LaVO3 films consist of mixed domains of [110] and [ 001] orientations. Thermoprobe and four-probe conductivity measurements dem onstrated the p-type semiconducting behavior of the epitaxial LaVO3 films. The temperature dependence of the conductivity is consistent with a thermal ly activated hopping mechanism with an activation barrier of 0.16 eV.