Crystallographic Domain Structure of an Epitaxial (Pr0.7Ca0.3)MnO3 Thin Film Grown on a SrTiO3 Single Crystal Substrate

• Published in: Journal of the American Ceramic Society Vol. 90; no. 7; pp. 2205 - 2209
• Main Authors: Fujimoto, Masayuki, Koyama, Hiroshi, Nishi, Yuji, Suzuki, Toshimasa, Kobayashi, Shinji, Tamai, Yukio, Awaya, Nobuyoshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Malden, USA Blackwell Publishing Inc 01.07.2007; Blackwell
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Exact sciences and technology; Physics; Structure and morphology; thickness; Surfaces and interfaces; thin films and whiskers (structure and nonelectronic properties); Thin film structure and morphology; Scanning electron microscopy; Inorganic compounds; Epitaxial layers; Crystal orientation; Electron diffraction; Praseodymium Manganites; XRD; Experimental study; High-resolution methods; Orientation relation; Thin films; Transmission electron microscopy; Domain structure; Calcium Manganites; Heteroepitaxy; Calcium Praseodymium Manganites Mixed; Manganites; Crystal structure
• ISSN: 0002-7820; 1551-2916
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1551-2916.2007.01686.x

We characterized the structure of the crystallographic domain of a (Pr0.7Ca0.3)MnO3 (PCMO (x=0.3)) thin film epitaxially grown on a (001)SrTiO3 (STO) single‐crystal substrate. We found that the domain structure exhibited an atomically smooth coherent interface with the STO substrate with no misfit dislocations. The crystallographic relationships between the domains and the substrate in their planes were interpreted to be PCMO (x=0.3)[110][001]//STO[100][010] and PCMO (x=0.3)[001][1‐10]//STO[100][010]. The domain structure of PCMO (x=0.3)[110][1‐10]//STO[100][010] has less possibility of having the larger anisotropic strain energy found in a monoclinically distorted pseudo‐cubic perovskite unit cell of PCMO (x=0.3). This epitaxial growth structure is totally different from the previously reported PCMO (x=0.5) epitaxial thin‐film structure on STO substrate. Our observations suggested that an x value change strongly influences the structure of epitaxial PCMO thin films.