Substrate influence on the magnetoresistance and magnetic order in La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 films

We report structural, magnetic and transport measurements on La0.6Sr0.4MnO3 thin films grown on MgO and TiSrO3 substrates with thickness varying from 5 to 500 nm. We find that the lattice mismatch between substrates and films affects the morphology and induced-strains of the films. We show that these two different effects strongly influence the ferromagnetic order, the metal-insulator transition, the localization of the current carriers and the magnetoresistance of these materials. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.