Optimization of the Growth Process of Double Perovskite Pr2-δNi1-xMn1+xO6-y Epitaxial Thin Films by RF Sputtering

Mónica Bernal-Salamanca; Lluis Balcells; Zorica Konstantinović; Alberto Pomar; Benjamín Martínez; Carlos Frontera

doi:10.3390/ma15145046

Optimization of the Growth Process of Double Perovskite Pr_2-δNi_1-xMn_1+xO_6-y Epitaxial Thin Films by RF Sputtering

Materials (Basel). 2022 Jul 20;15(14):5046. doi: 10.3390/ma15145046.

Authors

Mónica Bernal-Salamanca¹, Lluis Balcells¹, Zorica Konstantinović², Alberto Pomar¹, Benjamín Martínez¹, Carlos Frontera¹

Affiliations

¹ Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (ICMAB-CSIC), Campus UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain.
² Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials, Institute of Physics Belgrade, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 68, 6080 Belgrade, Serbia.

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of Pr_2-δNi_1-xMn_1+xO_6-y (PNMO) double perovskite were grown on (001)-oriented SrTiO₃ substrates by RF magnetron sputtering. The influence of the growth parameters (oxygen pressure, substrate temperature, and annealing treatments) on the structural, magnetic and transport properties, and stoichiometry of the films was thoroughly investigated. It is found that high-quality epitaxial, insulating, and ferromagnetic PNMO thin films can only be obtained in a narrow deposition parameter window. It is shown that a careful selection of the growth conditions allows for obtaining a high degree of Ni/Mn cation ordering, which is reflected in the values of the Curie temperature, T_C, and saturation magnetization, M_S, which are very close to those of bulk material.

Keywords: double perovskite; ferromagnetic insulator; sputtering thin film growth.

Abstract

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