Conditions for the growth of smooth La0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO3 thin films by pulsed electron ablation
Journal article, 2013
We report on the optimisation of the growth conditions of manganite La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3 thin films prepared by Channel Spark Ablation (CSA). CSA belongs to pulsed electron deposition methods and its energetic and deposition parameters are quite similar to those of pulsed laser deposition. The method has been already proven to provide manganite films with good magnetic properties, but the films were generally relatively rough (a few nm coarseness). Here we show that increasing the oxygen deposition pressure with respect to previously used regimes, reduces the surface roughness down to unit cell size while maintaining a robust magnetism. We analyse in detail the effect of other deposition parameters, like accelerating voltage, discharging energy, chamber pressure and substrate temperature and provide on this basis a set of optimal conditions for the growth of atomically flat films. The thicknesses for which atomically flat surface was achieved is as high as about 10-20 nm, corresponding to films with room temperature magnetism. We believe such magnetic layers represent appealing and suitable electrodes for various spintronic devices. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.
Pulsed electron beam deposition
Magnetoresistance
Atomically flat
Manganese perovskite
Channel-spark
Thin film
Lanthanum strontium manganite
Author
Patrizio Graziosi
Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV)
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Mirko Prezioso
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Alessandro Gambardella
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Catherine Kitts
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Physical Chemistry
Rajib Kumar Rakshit
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
National Physical Laboratory India
Alberto Riminucci
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Ilaria Bergenti
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Francesco Borgatti
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Chiara Pernechele
University of Parma
Massimo Solzi
University of Parma
Daniele Pullini
Centro Ricerche Fiat (CRF)
David Busquets-Mataix
Polytechnic University of Valencia (UPV)
Valentin A Dediu
National Research Council of Italy (CNR)
Thin Solid Films
0040-6090 (ISSN)
Vol. 534 83-89Subject Categories
Inorganic Chemistry
Materials Chemistry
Condensed Matter Physics
DOI
10.1016/j.tsf.2013.02.008