2025/06/11 by Coulter, Jennifer, Kugler, Fabian B., LaBollita, Harrison +2 · 1 citation
#FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2506.10143
Materials with exceptionally low resistivities at room temperature are currently heavily sought after for next-generation interconnects. SrMoO3 has one of the lowest experimentally-reported room-temperature resistivities, yet the origin of this property has remained a mystery. Using the Boltzmann transport equation we determine that electron-phonon scattering limits transport at room temperature and is responsible for the approximate T2 behavior of the resistivity at intermediate temperatures, often attributed to electron-electron Fermi-liquid scattering. We show that the weak electron-phonon coupling, which is similar to, e.g., copper, combined with high electron group velocities for states near the Fermi level, explains the low resistivity of SrMoO3. Additionally, the strength of the electron-phonon coupling is found to be sensitive to structural distortions, which may explain disagreements in the literature between single crystal and thin film measurements. The electron-phonon scattering in SrMoO3 is insensitive to static Coulomb interactions in the partially-filled transition-metal d orbitals, in contrast to similar oxides such as SrVO3. These findings have significant implications for theoretical interpretation of direct-current resistivity in transition-metal oxides and beyond.