Strain-induced pressure effect in pulsed laser deposited thin films of the strongly correlated oxide V2O3

V2O3 thin films about 1000 A thick were grown on Al2O3 (0001) by pulsed laser deposition. The x-ray diffraction analysis is in agreement with the R-3c space group. Some of them exhibit the metal/insulator transition characteristic of V2O3 bulk material and other samples exhibit a metallic behavior. For the latter, the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicates an oxidation state of +III for vanadium. There is no metal/insulator transition around 150 K in this sample and a strongly correlated Fermi liquid rho similar to A T-2 behavior of the resistivity at low temperature is observed, with a value of A of 1.2 10(-4) Omega cm, three times larger than the bulk value at 25 kbar.