Atomic contrast on ultrathin La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 films by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy


https://doi.org/10.4081/microscopie.2012.4981
Vol. 17 No. 1 (2012)
Submitted: 15 January 2015
Accepted: 15 January 2015
Published: 31 March 2012
manganites, STM, ultrathin films, highly correlated systems, atomic resolution.
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Authors

  • A. Gambardella
    a.gambardella@bo.ismn.cnr.it
    Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
  • P. Graziosi Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
  • I. Bergenti Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
  • M. Prezioso Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
  • F. Biscarini Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
  • V. Dediu Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Istituto per lo Studio dei Materiali Nanostrutturati (CNR-ISMN), Bologna, Italy.
In this work we map tunnel conductance curves and topographies with nanometric and sub-nanometric spatial resolution of fully insulating La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 ultrathin films at room temperature. While spectroscopy shows the lack of spatial patterns, suggesting no strong correlation between topographic and spectroscopic features at room temperature, we obtained for the first time clear atomic contrast at only some surface locations. We justify our results by suggesting the presence of local intrinsic inhomogeneities, that would act on a surface with overall homogeneous electronic states as charge density reliever, by allowing atomic contrast by a tunnelling measurement. Furthermore, our findings suggest that the effect of strain is to induce a transition from weak- to strongelectron- phonon coupling regimes, making fully-strained films as interesting model-systems to investigate the nature of the electron correlation directly at nanoscale lengths.

Gambardella, A., Graziosi, P., Bergenti, I., Prezioso, M., Biscarini, F., & Dediu, V. (2012). Atomic contrast on ultrathin La<sub>0.7</sub>Sr<sub>0.3</sub>MnO<sub>3</sub> films by Scanning Tunnelling Microscopy. Microscopie, 17(1), 35–41. https://doi.org/10.4081/microscopie.2012.4981

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