Effect of silver doping on the surface of La{sub 5/8}Ca{sub 3/8}MnO{sub 3} epitaxial films

Journal Article · Mon Sep 08 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4895026· OSTI ID:22310820

Vasudevan, R. K.; Kalinin, S. V.; Baddorf, A. P. ^[1]

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1. Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)

Thin film manganese oxides (manganites) display remarkable properties, such as colossal magnetoresistance and charge ordered phases, and became a focal point of research in the past two decades owing to potential applications ranging from oxide spintronics to resistive switching-based memories. La{sub x}Ca{sub 1−x}MnO{sub 3} (LCMO), a widely studied manganite, is known to substantially improve its transport properties when doped with Ag. However, despite the abundance of studies on LCMO, the effect of silver on the surface structure is unknown. Here, through in-situ methods, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is performed on La{sub 5/8}Ca{sub 3/8}MnO{sub 3} films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Films doped by silver, as confirmed by in-situ X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, display large-scale reconstructions, interpreted as being of type (√10 × √10)R18.4°, while films lacking silver display a (√2 × √2)R45° reconstruction that may be associated with a surface charge-ordered state. It is posited that the possible cause of the varied reconstructions is due to a vacancy ordering on top of the existing (√2 × √2)R45° reconstruction. These studies highlight the influence of Ag on the surface structure, and therefore a route towards modifying the surface properties of manganites.

• OSTI ID: 22310820
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 105; ISSN APPLAB; ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CALCIUM COMPOUNDS
DOPED MATERIALS
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
EPITAXY
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
LASER RADIATION
MAGNETORESISTANCE
MANGANATES
MANGANESE OXIDES
SCANNING TUNNELING MICROSCOPY
SILVER ADDITIONS
SURFACE PROPERTIES
SURFACES
THIN FILMS
VACANCIES
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY