Substrate dependence of magnetic properties of La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ films

We investigate the magnetic properties of 200-nm thick La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 films, which were grown under identical conditions onto five single crystal substrates: SrTiO3(001), LaAlO3(001), MgO(001), NdGaO3(001) and Si(111). The films exhibit a strong substrate dependence of the magnetic properties, including the coercive field, remanent magnetization and Curie temperature TC. The TC distribution was determined for each film. The upper cut-off value for the distribution is found to be virtually identical in all samples, even though the distribution width itself varies by almost an order of magnitude. The results are attributed predominantly to the degree of sample homogeneity, and are discussed in terms of strain-induced growth mode differences. © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.