Eur. Phys. J. B 76, 215-219 (2010)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2010-00203-6

Lattice structure and magnetization of LaCoO₃ thin films

IFW Dresden, Institute for Metallic Materials, Helmholtzstraße 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany

Corresponding author: ^a d.rata@ifw-dresden.de

Received: 24 February 2010
Revised: 15 April 2010
Published online: 29 June 2010

Abstract

We investigate the structure and magnetic properties of thin films of the LaCoO₃ compound. Thin films are deposited by pulsed laser deposition on various substrates in order to tune the strain from compressive to tensile. Single-phase (001) oriented LaCoO₃ layers were grown on all substrates despite large misfits. The tetragonal distortion of the films covers a wide range from -2% to 2.8%. Our LaCoO₃ films are ferromagnetic with Curie temperature around 85 K, contrary to the bulk. The total magnetic moment is below 1μ_B/Co³⁺, a value relatively small for an exited spin-state of the Co³⁺ ions, but comparable to values reported in literature. A correlation of strain states and magnetic moment of Co³⁺ ions in LaCoO₃ thin films is observed.