Growth of polycrystalline LaNi 1-xCo xO 3 (x = 0.3, 0.5) thin films on Si(100) by pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Polycrystalline LaNi 1_xCo xO 3 (x = 0.5, 0.3) thin films have been deposited on polished Si(lOO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The films are grown at 650°C in ambient oxygen pressure of 0.4 mbar with an incident laser fluence of 1.5 J/cm 2 delivered by a KrF excimer laser. The lattice parameters of the as-grown films are slightly larger (0.05%-0.4%) than those of the powders used to prepare the targets. The films exhibit weak texturing along the (012) direction. The low-temperature magnetic properties of the films, i.e. the coercive force, the remanence and the saturation magnetization, are enhanced compared to the powders. Furthermore, the x = 0.3 film exhibits a low, almost temperature-independent resistivity above 200 K [ρ(300 K) ∼ 30 μΩ cm] and thus we propose it as a potential candidate material for electrode applications, e.g. in ferroelectric devices.