Magnetic and transport properties driven by lattice strain in La₀.₇Ca₀.₃MnO₃/BaTiO₃ and La₀.₇Sr₀.₃MnO₃/BaTiO₃ bilayered films

Abstract

The microstructure and the magnetic and transport properties of La₀.₇Ca₀.₃MnO₃ and La₀.₇Sr₀.₃MnO₃ films deposited on a BaTiO₃ layer (LCMO/BTO and LSMO/BTO) and on a LaAlO₃ (001) single crystal (LCMO/LAO and LSMO/LAO) by rf-magnetron sputtering using «soft» (or powder) targets are investigated. The films grown on BTO demonstrate biaxial tensile in-plane and compressive out-of-plane strains, while the films grown on LAO, in contrast, manifest compressive in-plane and tensile out-of-plane strains. The films with biaxial tensile in-plane lattice strain undergo the magnetic transition at a higher temperature than that for the biaxial compressive case. This argues that the Mn–O–Mn bond-angle variation, controlled by the lattice strain, plays a more important role in the formation of the spin ordering than the attendant modification of the Mn–O bond length. It was shown that the magnetic inhomogeneity, expressed by a significant difference between the field-cooled and zero-field-cooled temperature-dependent magnetization, has a metallurgical rather than an electronic nature, and is controlled by the crystal lattice distortion and the microstructure defects. The observed enhancement of the magnetoresistance effect in the LSMO/BTO bilayer at room temperature make this object greatly beneficial in the development of new hybrid ferromagnetic/ferroelectric devices.