† Corresponding author. E-mail:
Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11604010), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, China (Grant No. FRF-TP-15-097A1), and the Open Research Fund Program of the State Key Laboratory of Low-Dimensional Quantum Physics, China (Grant No. KF201611).
The electroresistance (ER) of La0.36Pr0.265Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) epitaxial thin film was studied under various dc currents. The current effect was compared for the unpatterned film and patterned microbridge with a width of 50 µm. The value of ER in the unpatterned LPCMO film could reach 0.54 under a 1-mA current, which is much higher than ER under 1 mA for the patterned weak phase-separated La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 and La0.85Sr0.15MnO3 microbridges with 50-µm width. More interestingly, for the patterned LPCMO microbridge, the maximum of ER can reach 0.6 under a small current of 100 µA. The results were explained by considering the coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic phase with the charge-ordered phase, and the variation of the phase separation with electric current.
Because of the strong coupling between spin, charge, lattice, and orbital degrees of freedom, colossal magnetoresistive (CMR) perovskite manganites show a variety of electric and magnetic properties. They have been extensively studied due to their importance for both fundamental physics and potential applications.[1–3] In perovskite manganites, there exist different ground states with similar energy stability, depending on the balance of different interactions. Physical properties of manganites can be tuned by external disturbance, such as magnetic field,[4] pressure,[5] and illumination of light or x-ray,[6–10] due to the breaking balance of various interactions in the material.
The electric current effect on properties of CMR materials has also been reported, and it was shown that their resistances can be reduced under electric currents and/or electric fields, leading to the electroresistance (ER) effect and metastable states.[11–20] However, most of these previous reports focused on manganites with charge ordered state,[11] such as Pr1−xCaxMnO3 (x = 0.3, 0.4) single crystal,[21] polycrystalline bulk or films,[22,23] and Pr0.7Ca0.27Sr0.03MnO3 epitaxial films.[12] The ER and current-induced metastable states can be correlated with the phase separation scenario. The electric current was considered to lead to the melting of the charge ordered phase, i.e., a transition from the charge-ordered insulation (COI) state to the ferromagnetic metallic (FMM) state.[11,12,21,24] The transition is usually thought of as a percolative process with the domains of conducting FM eventually connected, which is accompanied by a large drop of resistivity. The ER effect has also been reported in the weak phase-separation systems, such as La1−xCaxMnO3 and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 films with different doping levels and thicknesses.[25–29] The research of electric current effect in different types of manganites is helpful for the study of mechanisms.
The previous investigation of current or field effect on epitaxial films of manganites with charge-ordered state is quite limited.[24,30] However, recent studies of current or field effect in LPCMO epitaxial films are rising again with different modulation and inspection in the phase separation picture.[31–37] Compared with La1−xCaxMnO3 and La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 films, the current effect in LPCMO is expected to be distinct, because the intrinsic charge-ordered phase in LPCMO with a size in the mesoscopic range is easily modulated by electric current or field. In this work, we studied the current effect in La5/8−yPryCa3/8MnO3 epitaxial film with doping level of y = 0.265. The current effect was compared in unpatterned film and patterned microbridge with a width of 50 µm. The value of ER in unpatterned LPCMO film under the same current is much higher than those for patterned weak phase-separated La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 and La0.85Sr0.15MnO3 microbridges with 50-µm width. For the patterned LPCMO microbridge, the maximum of ER can reach 0.6 under a small current of 100 µA. The results were discussed based on the scenario of phase separation, by considering the coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic phase with the charge-ordered phase, and the variation of the phase separation with electric current.
La0.36Pr0.265Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) thin films with a thickness of ∼100 nm were grown on single-crystal substrates of LaAlO3 (LAO) with (1 0 0) orientation by using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Bulk target of LPCMO were synthesized using a conventional solid state reaction method. The stoichiometric amounts of La2O3, CaCO3, Pr6O11, and MnO2 powders with high purity were calculated and weighed according to the Pr doping level (0.265). La2O3 was baked at 800 °C for 2 hours before weighing, because it is reactive with moisture and CO2 in air to form lanthanum carbonate and hydroxide hydrate. The powders of raw materials were mixed, ground, and calcined at 1000 °C∼1200 °C for 14 h repeatedly. The product was then finely ground, pressed into pellets and sintered at 1400 °C in air for another 24 h followed by furnace cooling. The target was used to prepare films in a PLD chamber. The films were deposited by using a 248-nm KrF excimer laser. The energy density is about 1.9 J/cm2 with a repetition rate of 3 Hz. The size of LAO substrate was 3 mm×10 mm×0.5 mm. The substrate temperature was held at 780 °C under an oxygen pressure of 80-Pa during deposition. The film thickness was controlled about 100-nm according to the deposition rate. After deposition, the films were cooled down to 650 °C holding for 5 minutes, and then down to room temperature in oxygen with a pressure of 0.9 atm (1 atm = 1.01325×105 Pa).
X-ray diffraction (XRD) was performed by using a Rigaku D/max-RB x-ray diffractometer with a Cu Kα radiation. Powder XRD studies indicated that both the last powder and the target were essentially in single-phase. Some of the LPCMO films were patterned into bridge-shaped samples with a 50-µm width. The electrical resistance was obtained from both unpatterned and patterned samples with sputtered gold pads as the electrical contacts. A standard four-probe configuration for the dc current effect measurements was adopted using a Keithley 2400 SourceMeter and 2182 Nanovoltmeter. The separations between the voltage pads are about 80 µm for the unpatterned sample, and 50 µm for the patterned sample. The electrical measurements were done with a liquid-nitrogen-cooling system.
XRD pattern of the polycrystalline pellet in Fig.
XRD pattern of the θ–2θ scan for LPCMO thin film in Fig.
Figure
Figure
The temperature dependences of ER for this LPCMO film under different currents are shown in Fig.
We also studied the current effect for the patterned LPCMO microbridge with a 50-µm width. Temperature dependences of resistance under different dc currents are shown in Fig.
For LPCMO, where replacing La3+ with smaller Pr3+ increases the effective Jahn–Teller coupling by reducing the hopping matrix element and decreases the bandwidth. LPCMO is sensitive to the internal chemical pressure and external disturbance, indicating the balance of various interactions determines its electronic ground states. If La3+ is fully replaced by Pr3+, the FMM state disappears because of the reduced bandwidth and only the COI state is observed at low temperature.[47] However, at low Pr doping levels, the COI state becomes less stable relative to the FMM state and finally collapses into a two-phase state revealing metal–insulator transition with the percolative mechanism below charge-ordering temperature Tco. Electron microscopy results showed that LPCMO is phase-separated into a sub-micrometer-scale mixture of insulating regions with charge ordering and metallic, ferromagnetic domains.[38] Powder neutron diffraction measurement showed mesoscopic (≥ 1000 Å) phase separation in LPCMO. When the temperature decreases down to Tco ∼ 210 K, Mn3+ and Mn4+ ions orderly distribute in the lattice space. When an external magnetic field is applied, charge-ordered state can be melted, changing from the charge crystal to charge liquid, accompanied by the transition from the antiferromagnetic to ferromagnetic states. Meanwhile, the resistance is reduced remarkably. The magnetic field used to melt the CO state is usually quite large, typically about 12 T for the melting of CO states in Pr1−xCaxMnO3. The melting of CO state is first-order phase transition, happening with distinct hysteresis and metastable states. The charge ordering state is fragile and can be switched from insulator to metallic state by pressure, magnetic and electric field, or light irradiation. Under a magnetic field, the melting of the CO state usually corresponds to huge magnetoresistance. Previous reports of current effect are focused on manganites with charge-ordered state, such as Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 single crystal, Pr1−xCaxMnO3 (x = 0.3, 0.4) polycrystalline bulk and films, Pr0.7Ca0.27Sr0.03MnO3 epitaxial films. The electric current can lead to the melting of the charge ordered phase. Because of the competition of CO and FM states, the proportion of conductive FM states would be enhanced under electric current or field. When the proportion of FM states increases to a certain threshold, the percolation routes for current are formed. Therefore, the resistivity is remarkably reduced, corresponding to distinct ER. The value of ER is larger in LPCMO film even though the current density is only about 1/60 compared with the effect in weak phase-separated manganite films.
In summary, we studied the electroresistance effect of La0.36Pr0.265Ca0.375MnO3 (LPCMO) epitaxial thin film under various dc currents. The current effect was compared in unpatterned film and patterned microbridge with a width of 50 µm. The value of ER in unpatterned LPCMO film could reach 0.54 under a 1-mA current, which is much higher than ER under 1 mA for patterned weak phase-separated La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 and La0.85Sr0.15MnO3 microbridges with 50-µm width. More interestingly, for the patterned LPCMO microbridge, the maximum of ER can reach 0.6 under a small current of 100 µA. The results were explained by considering the coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic phase with the charge-ordered phase, and the variation of the phase separation with electric current. The research of electric current effect in different types of manganites is helpful for the study of magnetoelectric coupling and the development of devices based on electric-current/field modulation.
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