| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1532199 | Materials Science and Engineering: B | 2006 | 4 Pages |
We report an unusual electroresistance (ER) behavior induced by a current and its response to magnetic fields in La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 epitaxial thin films. These thin films were fabricated on SrTiO3 (1 0 0) substrate using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. It is found that the electric resistivity in these films is significantly enhanced by applying a dc current over a threshold value. Simultaneously, an abnormal electroresistance behavior appears in the temperature range from 10 to 300 K. The enhanced resistance turns out to be very sensitive to a weak current. Even a very small dc current can remarkably depress the high resistance, showing an unusual colossal ER effect. The ER reaches ∼1175% at temperatures lower than ∼50 K, and ∼705% at 300 K for a current changing from 0.72 to 10.5 μA. The influence of magnetic fields on the transport was also studied. The I–V curves can be strongly influenced by a low magnetic field even at room temperature. The deduced magnetoresistance (MR) reaches 120% at 300 K upon applying a magnetic field of 0.25 T. An interesting phenomenon is that the observed MR is current dependent.
