Electric transport as a probe to unveil microscopic aspects of oxygen-depleted YBCO

: Acha, C.; Camjayi, A.; Vaimala, T.; Huhtinen, H.; Paturi, P.

Publisher: Elsevier BV

: LAUSANNE

: 2025

: Journal of Alloys and Compounds

: J ALLOY COMPD

: 178760

: 1015

: 8

: 0925-8388

: 1873-4669

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.178760(external)

: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2025.178760(external)

: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.16278(external)

We report on the characterization of Pt-YBa2Cu3O7-delta interfaces, focusing on how oxygen vacancies content (delta) affects electrical transport mechanisms. Our study examines four Pt-YBa2Cu3O7-delta samples with varying delta (0.12 <=delta <= 0.56) using voltage-current measurements across a temperature range. We successfully model the electrical behavior using a Poole-Frenkel conduction framework, revealing that oxygen vacancies create potential wells that trap carriers, directly influencing conduction. We observe that the energy of these traps increases as delta rises, in agreement with a peak previously detected in optical conductivity measurements. This result supports earlier interpretations, strengthening the proposed connection between oxygen vacancies and the ionization energy associated with impurity bands in oxygen-depleted YBa2Cu3O7 - (delta).

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We acknowledge very useful discussions with Dr. V. Ferrari and Dr. J. Dilson, as well as financial support by CONICET Grant PIP 11220200101300CO and UBACyT 20020220200062BA (2023–2025). Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation is also acknowledged for financial support.