ZnO thin films with near perfect crystallinity have been grown epitaxially on sapphire ͑001͒ by pulsed laser deposition technique. The-rocking curve full width at half-maximum of the ZnO͑002͒ peak for the films grown at 750°C, oxygen pressure 10 Ϫ5 Torr was 0.17°. The high degree of crystallinity was confirmed by ion channeling technique providing a minimum Rutherford backscattering yield of 2%-3% in the near-surface region (ϳ2000 Å). The atomic force microscopy revealed smooth hexagonal faceting of the ZnO films. It has been possible to deposit epitaxial AlN films of thickness 1000 Å on epi-ZnO/sapphire. Excellent crystalline properties of these epi-ZnO/sapphire heterostructures are, thus, promising for lattice-matched substrates for III-V nitride heteroepitaxy and optoelectronics devices.

No abstract

We report our study of the effect of crystallinity on the magnetoresistance in epitaxial and polycrystalline La2/3Ba1/3MnO3 and La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films. Magnetoresistance in epitaxial films exhibits field dependence and temperature dependence similar to bulk single crystals and sintered bulk ceramics. The polycrystalline films exhibit a markedly different behavior. The magnetoresistance in this case shows either a monotonic increase or saturation with decreasing temperature in contrast to that of epitaxial films in which the magnetoresistance peaks close to the ferromagnetic transition temperature. The field dependence in the polycrystalline films is also remarkably different. At low fields, we observe a sharp drop in resistance followed by a more gradual decrease at higher fields. Our data suggest that in addition to the intrinsic magnetoresistance, grain-boundary transport contributes significantly to the magnetoresistance in polycrystalline films.

We are able to grow high quality La0.67Sr0.33MnO3(LSMO) colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) thin films on Y-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) buffered (100) Si substrates using a Bi4Ti3O12 texturing and lattice matching layer. The CMR films have very high structural perfection and show excellent transport and ferromagnetic properties, including the almost full saturation magnetization values and narrow ferromagnetic resonance peaks (15 Oe at 290 K). The lattice matching template/buffer layer approach is suitable for the high quality CMR films on Si. A close correlation between the magnetic hysteresis loop and the field dependence of MR is observed at lower temperatures.

c -axis textured La0.7Sr0.3MnO3−δ (LSMO) films were fabricated on SiO2/Si(001) substrates using a Bi4Ti3O12 (BTO) template layer. Electrical and magnetic properties of LSMO were investigated. The LSMO/BTO layer of this structure has no in-plane alignment. Even though a ferromagnetic transition temperature, TC, is as high as that of the epitaxial LSMO film (360 K), a resistivity peak temperature, TP, is about 140 K lower than TC. The resistivity behavior as a function of temperature for LSMO/BTO/SiO2/Si films is found to be dominated by grain boundary effects. Low field sensitive magnetoresistance which suggests spin tunneling through the grain boundaries is also observed at room temperature.