%0 Journal Article
%K Room temperature
%K Nanotechnology
%K Orders of magnitude
%K Electronic structure
%K Spin-orbit couplings
%K Anisotropic deformation
%K External perturbations
%K Insulating state
%K Piezoresistance
%K Room-temperature resistivity
%A N Domingo
%A L López-Mir
%A M Paradinas
%A V Holy
%A J Železný
%A D Yi
%A S.J Suresha
%A J F Liu
%A C. Rayan Serrao
%A Ramamoorthy Ramesh
%A C Ocal
%A X Marti
%A G Catalan
%B Nanoscale
%D 2015
%G eng
%I Royal Society of Chemistry
%P 3453-3459
%R 10.1039/c4nr06954d
%T Giant reversible nanoscale piezoresistance at room temperature in Sr2IrO4 thin films
%V 7
%X Layered iridates have been the subject of intense scrutiny on account of their unusually strong spin-orbit coupling, which opens up a narrow bandgap in a material that would otherwise be a metal. This insulating state is very sensitive to external perturbations. Here, we show that vertical compression at the nanoscale, delivered using the tip of a standard scanning probe microscope, is capable of inducing a five orders of magnitude change in the room temperature resistivity of Sr2IrO4. The extreme sensitivity of the electronic structure to anisotropic deformations opens up a new angle of interest on this material, with the giant and fully reversible perpendicular piezoresistance rendering iridates as promising materials for room temperature piezotronic devices. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.