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Effects of cation disorder and strain on the surface morphologies and transport properties of thin films with different A-site cation disorder, which was achieved by Y and Sr codoping into La2/3Ca1/3MnO3, have been investigated. A metal-insulator transition (MIT) was observed on all films except that on MgO, which indicates that large strain increases insulator phase. With increasing cation disorder, the resistivity increases while MIT and Curie temperature decrease, which reveal that cation disorder suppresses the long-range ferromagnetic metallic phase. The spin-glass state and ferromagnetic-metallic state coexist in low temperature. Cation disorder induces more insulator phases in the large strain films. A Kondo-like transport behavior was observed in the large cation disordered films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interface structure and magnetoresistance (MR) for the single spin valve (SV) of Co/Cu/Co structure with a NiO layer at the top or under the bottom were investigated. Glancing incident x-ray reflectivity and x-ray diffuse scatter studies show that the interface roughness of NiO on Co is much larger than that of Co on NiO. The large roughness may be one of the main factors of suppressing spin reflectivity. The interface between NiO and Co becomes more flat after annealing. Different temperature dependence of MR was observed for the top and the bottom SV. We attribute the above phenomena to the competition between the roughness and the exchange effects of the NiO/Co interface. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 (LCMO) thin films with the thickness varying from 200 to 500 Å have been deposited by magnetron sputtering on sapphire, SrTiO3, yttrium-stabilized ZrO2 substrates. A metal-to-insulator transition behavior was observed for all samples with the transition temperature and width varying with the substrate and the film thickness. A percolation model has been used to obtain the physical parameters on low-temperature metallic transport behavior and the adiabatic thermal small polaron hopping progress. The surface of the deposited films was measured by atomic force microscopy and grazing incidence x-ray specular and diffuse scattering. Fits to the data show the presence of a mixed layer between the substrate and the LCMO films the extent of which depends on the substrate used. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structure and transport properties of Eu-doped YBa2-xEuxCu3O7-δ (YBECO) have been studied. Eu is confirmed preferring to replace Ba at Ba sites. The averaged valence state of Eu, which is examined by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy, increases with increasing x. Eu doping in YBECO has a little influence on superconductivity in our studies, and the superconducting transition temperature Tc is almost unchanged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We studied the microstructures, electronic, and magnetic properties on La-doped and La- and Ca-codoped YBa2Cu3O7-δ (YBCO). The superconducting transition temperature remains unchanged up to 10% for La-doped YBCO. The competition between electrons and holons was assumed according to the variation of Tc0 in La and Ca codopings in YBCO. The magnetoresistance (MR) effect is about 8%, which is observed obviously near the critical temperature and is independent of the content of La in La-doped YBCO. MR increases up to about 40% with the incorporation of Ca in La-doped YBCO. We present here possible explanations for the magnetoresistance effect in polycrystalline samples based on the microstructure and the increase of oxygen vacancies at grain-boundary interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of a nano-nitride-layer (NNL) doped at different interfaces in the structure of Cu/Co/Cu/Co/Cu on magnetoresistance (MR) is investigated. As the NNL is doped at the inner interfaces of the core Co/Cu/Co sandwich, an inverse MR is observed. This contrasts sharply with that doping at the two outer interfaces between the core sandwich (Co/Cu/Co) and the buffer or/and the capping layers. The result arises from the negative spin asymmetry induced by the NNL doping under different interfacial circumstances. Moreover, the MR value increases in magnitude as temperature is decreased from room temperature to 4.2 K. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]