LaNiO/sub 3/: a promising material for contact with YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-x/ thin films

Epitaxial LaNiO/sub 3/ metallic oxide thin films have been grown on c-axis oriented YBa/sub 2/Cu/sub 3/O/sub 7-/spl delta// thin films on LaAlO/sub 3/ substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique and the interface formed between the two films has been examined by measuring the contact conductance of the same. The specific contact conductance of the interface measured using a modified four probe method was found to be 1.4 to 6/spl times/10/sup 4/ ohm/sup -1/ cm/sup -2/ at 77 K. There are indications that contact conductance can be brought closer to that obtained for noble metal-YBCO interface.