Conductivity and magnetoresistance of La0.7Ce0.3MnO3−δ thin films under photoexcitation

Abstract

La0.7Ce0.3MnO3 thin films of different thicknesses, degrees of CeO2-phase segregation and oxygen deficiency, grown on SrTiO3 single crystal substrates, were comparatively investigated with respect to both their spectral and temperature-dependent photoconductivity (PC) and their magnetoresistance (MR) behaviour under photoexcitation. While as-grown films were insensitive to optical excitation, oxygen reduction appeared to be an effective way to decrease the film resistance, but the film thickness was found to play a minor role. However, from the evaluation of the spectral behaviour of the PC and the comparison of the MR of the LCeMO/substrate-samples with a bare substrate under illumination we find that the photoconductivity data reflects not only contributions from (i) photogenerated charge carriers in the film and (ii) carriers injected from the photoconductive substrate (as concluded from earlier works), but also (iii) a decisive parallel photoconduction in the SrTiO3 substrate. Furthermore—also by analyzing the MR characteristics—the unexpected occurence of a strong electroresistive effect in the sample with the highest degree of CeO2 segregation and oxygen deficiency could be attributed to the electroresistance of the SrTiO3 substrate as well. The results suggest a critical reconsideration and possibly a reinterpretation of several previous photoconductivity and electroresistance investigations of manganite thin films on SrTiO3.