Structural and thermal characterization of La5Ca9Cu24O41 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on (1 1 0) SrTiO3 substrates

In the present study stoichiometric, b-axis oriented La5Ca9Cu24O41 thin films were grown by pulsed laser deposition on (1 1 0) SrTiO3 substrates in the temperature range 600–750 °C. High resolution transmission electron microscopy was employed to investigate the growth mechanism and the epitaxial relationship between the SrTiO3 substrates and the La5Ca9Cu24O41 films grown at 700 °C. The 3-ω method was used to measure the cross-plane thermal conductivity of La5Ca9Cu24O41 films in the temperature range 50–350 K. The observed glass-like behavior is attributed to atomic-scale defects, grain boundaries and an interfacial layer formed between film and substrate.