Enhanced electrical and magnetic properties in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films deposited on CaTiO3-buffered silicon substrates

We investigate the suitability of an epitaxial CaTiO3 buffer layer deposited onto (100) Si by reactive molecular-beam epitaxy (MBE) for the epitaxial integration of the colossal magnetoresistive material La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 with silicon. The magnetic and electrical properties of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films deposited by MBE on CaTiO3-buffered silicon (CaTiO3/Si) are compared with those deposited on SrTiO3-buffered silicon (SrTiO3/Si). In addition to possessing a higher Curie temperature and a higher metal-to-insulator transition temperature, the electrical resistivity and 1/f noise level at 300 K are reduced by a factor of two in the heterostructure with the CaTiO3 buffer layer. These results are relevant to device applications of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films on silicon substrates. (C) 2015 Author(s). All article content, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.