Transport properties of electron-doped La2-x Cex CuO4 cuprate thin films

Electron-doped La2-x Cex CuO4 (x=0.06-0.20) thin films with two orientations (100) and (103) were successfully grown and their transport properties were investigated. It is found that the temperature dependence of the in-plane resistivity ρab evolves from semiconducting behavior for underdoped films to two-dimensional Fermi liquid behavior for optimally and overdoped ones, while the c -axis resistivity ρc shows nonmetallic behavior except for heavily overdoped films. The doping-dependent anisotropy factor ρc ρab is found to vary from 60 to 1500 at 50 K, and the largest anisotropy value related to the highest TC is obtained at the optimal doping (x=0.10). © 2006 The American Physical Society.