Preparation by radio-frequency magnetron co-sputtering and characterization of thin films of lanthanum-strontium ferromanganites

(La0.8Sr0.2)(Mn1 − yFey)O3 ± δ films with y = 0, 0.2, 0.5, 0.8 and 1, a few hundred nanometers thick, were deposited onto polycrystalline yttria-stabilized zirconia YSZ by a magnetron co-sputtering technique using individual targets of La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 and La0.8Sr0.2FeO3. The deposition parameters, substrate temperature and gas pressure, were studied by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and interferential microscopy for their effects on the morphological, chemical, topographic and crystallographic properties of films and YSZ-film interfaces. (La0.8Sr0.2)(Mn1 − yFey)O3 ± δ thin films were found to be homogeneous, dense and crystallized in the perovskite structure after deposition at 600 °C. Profilometry by secondary ion mass spectrometry and observations by Auger electron spectrometry after selective dissolution of the films were also used to investigate both morphology and quality of the YSZ-film interface after deposition.