[1Ga01-10] Thin Film (TF)

[1Ga04] Epitaxial growth and electrical properties of LaH_x(001) thin films

*Takumi Kosaka¹, Hideyuki Kawasoko^1,2, Tomoteru Fukumura^1,3 (1. Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8578, Japan, 2. PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Saitama 332-0012, Japan, 3. Advanced Institute for Materials Research (WPI-AIMR), Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan)

Rare earth hydrides have been extensively studied due to their potential applications for electronic and energy devices. Recently, we grew LaH₂(111) epitaxial thin films by reactive magnetron sputtering with in-situ Si₃N₄ cap layer for the first time. In this study, we grew LaH_x(001) epitaxial thin films by reactive magnetron sputtering. In the films, LaH₃(001) epitaxial phase coexisted with LaH₂(001) epitaxial phase for the thicker films, resulting in the higher electrical resistivity. Taking into account the absence of LaH₃ phase in the LaH₂ (111) film, this result suggests that the film orientation is an important factor to control the amount of hydrogen in rare earth hydride thin films, which is closely related with the electrical conduction.