2021/10/14 by K. Szot, Szot, K., Christian Rodenbücher +17
Engineering · Materials Science · #Advanced Memory and Neural Computing #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #FOS: Physical sciences #Ferroelectric and Negative Capacitance Devices #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2110.07230
openalex publication_date 2021/10/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
SrTiO3, although a wide gap insulator, has long been known to become metallic and superconducting at extremely low doping levels. This has given rise to questions concerning the coexistence or interdependence of metallicity, superconductivity, and the material's polar properties. This issue becomes especially intriguing in conjunction with the observation that filamentary metallicity can be induced by means of resistive switching at conditions well below relevant doping levels for homogeneous metallicity. In this study, we demonstrate that resistive switching can also be employed to generate superconductivity at the superconducting transition temperature of Tc ≈ 0.2 K in SrTiO3. By combining local characterization of the conductivity with theoretical analysis, we propose that the superconducting properties are associated with the electro-formation of columnar-like bundles with a diameter of 40-50 nm, consisting of metallic filaments surrounded by polar regions. We provide a theoretical model identifying the coexistence of metallic and polar regions as a prerequisite for the filamentary-like superconductivity observed.