2009/02/04 by S. Kelly, Simon J. Kelly, Kelly, S. +6
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic and transport properties of perovskites and related materials #Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el) #cond-mat.str-el
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0902.0626
arxiv created 2009/02/04 · openalex publication_date 2009/02/04 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Thin-film colossal magnetoresistance manganites such as La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO) have now been intensely studied for more than a decade, but the issue of possible nanoscale electronic phase separation is not fully solved. Scanning Tunneling Microscopy / Spectroscopy (STS) has been pivotal in studying phase separation, but is hindered by being surface- rather than bulk-sensitive. For our sputtered LCMO films the data indicates a strong correlation between surface morphology and signatures of phase separation; rough films show phase separation while atomically flat films are electronically homogeneous but have a more or less inactive surface layer. Regardless of surface morphology, the film bulk is electronically and magnetically active. Many of the reported conclusions about electronic inhomogeneities measured by STS have been confused by this issue. We study both strained and unstrained films and find no correlation between substrate-induced strain and either electronic phase separation or dead layers.