Stress evolution and lattice distortion induced by thickness variation and lattice misfit in La0.67 Sr0.33 MnO3 - δ films

Abstract La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3−δ thin films with different thicknesses are prepared in order to investigate the structural variation induced by film thickness and lattice misfit. The X-ray diffraction results show the in-built stress evolution from a full strained thin layer (∼10 nm) to a completely relaxed thick layer (∼150 nm), which can be well explained by the Poisson effect. Raman spectroscopy measurements reveal the complicated correlation between the Jahn–Teller (JT) distortion and film thickness. Important octahedron modes reflecting JT distortion are completely caused by the relaxed layer. It is observed that broad JT bands are formed in the films with large thickness of the relaxed layer and the residual stress in the layer leads to an obvious blue shift. In contrast, for films with the thin relaxed layer, JT modes are present as a sharper structure and move to low frequency, indicating towards a much better oxygen stoichiometry.