Strain Analysis in Thin La1−xCaxMnO3 Films by Grazing Incidence X-ray Scattering

We have performed depth profile analyses of the lattice parameters in epitaxial thin films of La1−xCaxMno3 (LCMO), where x = 0.33 or 0.3, to understand the evolution of strain relaxation processes in these materials. The analyses were done using Grazing Incidence X-ray Scattering (GIXS) on films of different thicnesses on two different substrates, (100) oriented LaAlO3 (LAO), with a lattice mismatch of ∼2% and (110) oriented NGO, with a lattice mismatch of less than 0.1%. Films grown on LAO can exhibit up to three in-plane strained lattice constants, corresponding to a slight orthorhombic distortion of the crystal, as well as near-surface and columnar lattice relaxation. As a function of film thickness, a crossover from a strained film to a mixture of strained and relaxed regions in the film occurs in the range of 700 Å. The structural evolution at this thickness coincides with a change in the resistivity curve near the metalinsulator transition. The in-plane compressive strain has a range of 0.2 – 1.5%, depending on the film thickness for filsm in the range of 400 - 1500 A.