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Structural phase transition at the percolation threshold in epitaxial (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3)1–x:(MgO)x nanocomposite films

Nature Materials volume 2, pages 247–252 (2003)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 January 2005

Abstract

'Colossal magnetoresistance' in perovskite manganites such as La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (LCMO), is caused by the interplay of ferro-paramagnetic, metal–insulator and structural phase transitions. Moreover, different electronic phases can coexist on a very fine scale resulting in percolative electron transport. Here we report on (LCMO)1–x:(MgO)x (0 < x ≤ 0.8) epitaxial nano-composite films in which the structure and magnetotransport properties of the manganite nanoclusters can be tuned by the tensile stress originating from the MgO second phase. With increasing x, the lattice of LCMO was found to expand, yielding a bulk tensile strain. The largest colossal magnetoresistance of 105% was observed at the percolation threshold in the conductivity at xc ≈ 0.3, which is coupled to a structural phase transition from orthorhombic (0 < x ≤ 0.1) to rhombohedral R3̄c structure (0.33 ≤ x ≤ 0.8). An increase of the Curie temperature for the R3̄c phase was observed. These results may provide a general method for controlling the magnetotransport properties of manganite-based composite films by appropriate choice of the second phase.

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Figure 1: Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations of a nano-composite (LCMO)0.5:(MgO)0.5 film grown by a metal-organic aerosol deposition technique on MgO(100) substrate.
Figure 2: X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of composite (LCMO)1–x:(MgO)x films.
Figure 3: The empirical dependence of the crystal lattice parameters of the LCMO primary phase on the concentration of the MgO second phase.
Figure 4: Cross-section selected-area electron-diffraction patterns of the composite films with x = 0 and x = 0.33.
Figure 5: Magnetotransport in composite (LCMO)1–x:(MgO)x films.
Figure 6: The empirical phase diagram of the LCMO phase as a function of the concentration of MgO second phase.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank H.-U. Krebs for help in X-ray measurements. The work was supported by the Deutche Forschungsgemeinschaft via SFB 602, project A2 and within the framework of IUAP V-1 of the Belgian government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. I. Physikalisches Institut, Universität Göttingen, Bunsenstrasse 9, Göttingen, D-37073, Germany

    V. Moshnyaga, B. Damaschke & K. Samwer

  2. Institute of Applied Physics, Academiei Strada 5, Kishinev, MD-2028, Moldova

    O. Shapoval & A. Belenchuk

  3. Institut für Materialphysik, Universität Göttingen, Hospitalstrasse 3-7, Göttingen, D-37073, Germany

    J. Faupel

  4. EMAT, University of Antwerp (RUCA), Groenenborgerlaan 171, Antwerpen, B-2020, Belgium

    O. I. Lebedev, J. Verbeeck & G. van Tendeloo

  5. Institut für Physik, Universität Augsburg, Universitätstrasse 1, Augsburg, D-86159, Germany

    M. Mücksch, V. Tsurkan & R. Tidecks

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  1. V. Moshnyaga
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Moshnyaga, V., Damaschke, B., Shapoval, O. et al. Structural phase transition at the percolation threshold in epitaxial (La0.7Ca0.3MnO3)1–x:(MgO)x nanocomposite films. Nature Mater 2, 247–252 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat859

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