Epitaxial strain effects on the metal–insulator transition in V2O3 thin films

Effects of epitaxial stress on the metal–insulator transition of V2O3 have been studied for in the form of epitaxial thin films grown on α-Al2O3 (0001) and LiTaO3 (0001) substrates. A metallic phase is stabilized down to 2 K in the V2O3 thin film on α-Al2O3 (0001), where the a-axis is compressed by 4% owing to large epitaxial stress. On the other hand, the transition temperature TMI is raised by 20 K from the value of 170 K in bulk samples in the film on LiTaO3 (0001), where the a-axis is expanded. These results suggest an intimate relationship between the a-axis length and TMI in V2O3. The conductivity of the metallic ultrathin films shows logarithmic temperature dependence below 20 K, probably due to the Anderson localization in two-dimensional systems.