Growth, Magnetic and Electrical Transport Properties of La$lt;inf$gt;0.7$lt;/inf$gt;Sr$lt;inf$gt;0.3$lt;/inf$gt;MnO$lt;inf$gt;3$lt;/inf$gt; Thin Films on PLZST Ceramics

Abstract

La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films with different thicknesses were deposited on (Pb0.97La0.02) (Zr0.58Sn0.3025Ti0.1175)O-3 (PLZST) ceramics by RF magnetron sputtering, and their microstructure, magnetic and electrical transport properties were investigated. Microscopy observations show that LSMO thin films are perovskite structure without obvious impurity phase. All the LSMO thin films display smooth surface with uniform, and roughness is as low as 2.93 nm for LSMO thin films at the thickness of 20 nm. Furthermore, large magnetoresistance (MR) effect was observed in LSMO thin films in a broad temperature range of 10-300 K. Particularly the MR of LSMO thin films with 20 nm in thickness exhibits excellent temperature stability. Moreover, the Curie temperature, metal-insulator transition temperature, saturation magnetization and electrical conductivity decrease as the film thickness increases, which is attributed to the diffusion of Pb, Sn, Zr, etc. in the samples, resulting in the distortion of MnO6 octahedron.