Control of Preferential Orientation of La<sub>1-x</sub>Sr<sub>x</sub>MnO<sub>3</sub> Thin Films by Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

La1-xSrxMnO3 (LSMO) thin films were grown on (100)- and (110)-oriented MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition, so as to control the preferential orientation of the films. At the optimum deposition temperature (Td = 923K), LSMO thin films with a dense texture and a smooth surface were prepared. The XRD patterns and X-ray pole figures indicated that the LSMO thin films were epitaxially grown on MgO substrates, due to the small lattice mismatch between the films and substrates The possible orientation relationships were found to be LSMO (100) [100] // MgO (100) [100] and LSMO (110) [110] // MgO (110) [110], as for the (100) and (110) MgO substrates, respectively.