Structural and magnetoresistance properties of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3 thin films on buffered silicon substrates

We report an epitaxial growth of LCMO (La2/3Ca1/3MnO3) film on Si by using a highly conducting diffusion barrier layer of TiN. In order to achieve epitaxial growth of LCMO films, MgO, and SrTiO3 films were used as intermediate layers between LCMO and TiN layers. The results have indicated that the properties of LCMO films on Si substrates, deposited under an optimized condition, are on par with the properties of LCMO films on conventional oxide substrates such as LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 in terms of paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition temperature, insulator to metal transition temperature, and magnetoresistance ratio.