Epitaxial thin films of ordered double perovskite Sr2FeMoO6

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of ${\mathrm{Sr}}_{\mathrm{2}}{\mathrm{FeMoO}}_{\mathrm{6}},$ that are ordered double perovskite with half-metallic nature, have been successfully prepared on ${\mathrm{SrTiO}}_{\mathrm{3}}$ (001) and (111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition in a narrow window of the temperature and oxygen pressure. From the surface morphology analysis for the atomic scale step-and-terrace structures, the film growth is concluded to take place with the chemical formula as the growth unit when the ordering direction is normal to the surface. The films showed metallic conduction with ferromagnetic transition temperature above 400 K and intergrain tunneling type magnetoresistance even at room temperature.