Structure and magnetic properties of epitaxial Sr-LaMnO3 thin films obtained by polymer assisted deposition

Abstract

Epitaxial La1 − xSrxMnO3 (LSMO, where x = 0, 0.1, 0.3 and 0.5) films on single crystal SrTiO3 (001) substrate were obtained by water-based chemical solution deposition method, so-called polymer assisted deposition. The as-prepared films (heated at 750°C for 1 h) have thickness of ~ 30 nm, high uniformity, clear and well-defined interface and crack free surfaces. In addition, they are characterized by the formation of an imperfect crystal structure with some disoriented areas, small amount of non-stoichiometric phase and defects created just to support the epitaxial film growth. During multiple annealing at different temperatures up to 900°C epitaxial nature was preserved in all LSMO films and the structure rearrangement through elimination of defects and formation of unit cell closer to the corresponding bulk stoichiometric phase was observed. The magnetic properties of the LSMO thin film were measured using SQUID magnetometer in the temperature range of 5–400 K with the field applied parallel (in-plane) and perpendicular (out-of-plane) to the film surface. The angle dependence of the magnetic moment in the LSMO thin films at the room temperature was also measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer.