Abstract

Perovskite manganite La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films were directly grown on MgO(100), Si(100) and glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. From the XRD patterns, the films are found to be polycrystalline, single-phase orthorhombic. The metal–insulator transition temperature is 209 K for LCMO/MgO, 266 K for LCMO/Si and 231 K for film deposited on the glass substrate. The conduction mechanism in these films is investigated in different temperature regimes. Low-temperature resistivity data below the phase transition temperature (T P) have been fitted with the relation \( \rho = \rho_{0} + \rho_{2} T^{2} + \rho_{4.5} T^{4.5} \), indicating that the electron–electron scattering affects the conduction of these materials. The high-temperature resistivity data (T > T P) were explained using variable-range hopping (VRH) and small-polaron hopping (SPH) models. Debye temperature values are 548 K for LCMO/Cg, 568 K for LCMO/Si and 508 K for LCMO/MgO thin films. In all thin films, the best fitting in the range of VRH is found for 3D dimension. The density of states near the Fermi level N (E F) for LCMO/MgO is lower due to the prominent role of the grain boundary in LCMO/MgO and increase in bending of Mn–O–Mn bond angle, which decreases the double exchange coupling of Mn3+–O2–Mn4+ and in turn makes the LCMO/MgO sample less conducting as compared to the other films.

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