Substrate-induced strain effects on the transport properties of pulsed laser deposited Nb doped SrTiO$_{3}$ films.

Thin films of Nb doped SrTiO$_{3 }$(NSTO) are grown via pulsed laser deposition (PLD) on LaAlO$_{3}$ (LAO, 001), MgAl$_{2}$O$_{4}$ (MAO, 001), SrTiO$_{3}$ (STO, 001), and Y-stabilized ZrO$_{2 }$(YSZ, 001) substrates. The film growth is examined under various growth conditions. The dependence of film properties on the film-substrate lattice mismatch, film thickness, and substrate temperature is investigated. The electrical transport in NSTO films is shown to exhibit a strong sensitivity to strain, which is suggested to arise from the dependence of carrier mobility on bond distortions/stretching and related changes in phonon modes.