Influence of Lattice Strain on Phase Separation and Percolative Behaviors in La0.325Pr0.3Ca0.375 MnO3 Thin Films

The compressive and tensile strains induced by different substrates on La_0.325Pr_0.3Ca_0.375 MnO₃(LPCMO) thin films have been investigated. It is found that the in-plane compressive strain favors the ferromagnetic metallic phase by increasing the hopping amplitude between neighboring elections and decreasing the tilt of the MnO₆ octahedron, leading to the weakening of the phase separation. On the other hand, the in-plane tensile strain in films prefers to increase the stability of long-range charge/orbital ordering (COO) phase. Under 5 T magnetic field, the 30 nm LPCMO films on NGO and LSAT substrates show an obvious metal-insulator transition, indicating that the COO phase can be melted by the magnetic field at low temperature in the film with small in-plane tensile strain. The LPCMO film on STO substrate keeps insulating in the entire measuring temperature range even under 5 T magnetic field, suggesting that the COO phase in the film with a large tensile strain is more robust.