Transport, magnetic, and structural properties of La$_{0.7}$Ce$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ thin films. Evidence for hole-doping
| Autor: | Werner, R., Raisch, C., Leca, V., Ion, V., Bals, S., Van Tendeloo, G., Chassé, T., Kleiner, R., Koelle, D. |
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| Rok vydání: | 2008 |
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| Druh dokumentu: | Working Paper |
| DOI: | 10.1103/PhysRevB.79.054416 |
| Popis: | Cerium-doped manganite thin films were grown epitaxially by pulsed laser deposition at $720 ^\circ$C and oxygen pressure $p_{O_2}=1-25 $Pa and were subjected to different annealing steps. According to x-ray diffraction (XRD) data, the formation of CeO$_2$ as a secondary phase could be avoided for $p_{O_2}\ge 8 $Pa. However, transmission electron microscopy shows the presence of CeO$_2$ nanoclusters, even in those films which appear to be single phase in XRD. With O$_2$ annealing, the metal-to-insulator transition temperature increases, while the saturation magnetization decreases and stays well below the theoretical value for electron-doped La$_{0.7}$Ce$_{0.3}$MnO$_3$ with mixed Mn$^{3+}$/Mn$^{2+}$ valences. The same trend is observed with decreasing film thickness from 100 to 20 nm, indicating a higher oxygen content for thinner films. Hall measurements on a film which shows a metal-to-insulator transition clearly reveal holes as dominating charge carriers. Combining data from x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, for determination of the oxygen content, and x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), for determination of the hole concentration and cation valences, we find that with increasing oxygen content the hole concentration increases and Mn valences are shifted from 2+ to 4+. The dominating Mn valences in the films are Mn$^{3+}$ and Mn$^{4+}$, and only a small amount of Mn$^{2+}$ ions can be observed by XAS. Mn$^{2+}$ and Ce$^{4+}$ XAS signals obtained in surface-sensitive total electron yield mode are strongly reduced in the bulk-sensitive fluorescence mode, which indicates hole-doping in the bulk for those films which do show a metal-to-insulator transition. Comment: 8 pages, 10 figures |
| Databáze: | arXiv |
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