Temperature dependence of nanometer-size metallic phase texture and its correlation with bulk magnetic and transport properties and defects of a (La0.4Pr0.6)0.67Ca0.33MnO3 film

Using conductive atomic force microscopy, we observed non-uniform distributions of metallic and insulating domains on the surface of a single crystalline (La0.4Pr0.6)(0.67)Ca0.33MnO3 film grown on a (110) NdGaO3 substrate. Metallic phase texture is confined to stripes corresponding to similar to 100 nm lateral dimension between terrace steps. The electronic properties of the surface exhibit thermal hysteresis, and the hysteresis is similar to that of the transport and magnetism of the film bulk. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4733666]