The epitaxial growth of the LaCaMnO thin films with the CMR effects prepared by a new method: Precursor film sintering

We synthesized the La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films on LaAlO3 (1 0 0) single-crystal substrates by a newly invented precursor film sintering (PFS) method. Thermal gravimetric analysis and Fourier transformation infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis show that polyacrylamide, citric acid, and nitrite ions are burned out at a temperature higher than 600 °C, and La1−xAxMnO3 oxides (LCMO) thin films begin to form at the same temperature. XRD results show that the LCMO thin films formed by the PFS method have the same crystal structure as the epitaxially grown LCMO thin films prepared by the pulsed laser deposition method. The maximum value of magneto-resistance (MR), 85.4%, has been observed at 259 K, and it can reach 40% even at room temperature. Besides, the advantages of the PFS method include simple equipments, common chemical compounds and a variety of shapes of the prepared thin films.