Epitaxial growth of La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 thin films on SrTiO3 substrates by metal-organic deposition

La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 thin films have been epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 (001) single-crystal substrates by metal-organic deposition process. Crystallinity and morphology of the obtained films were examined in detail using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. The evolution of the out-of-plane lattice parameter with film thickness is investigated. The critical thickness for strain relaxation is found in the 60-80 nm range. The electrical properties of the obtained films in various conditions have been investigated. By increasing the annealing temperature to 1000 degrees C and the film thickness to 120 nm, the electrical resistivity was decreased by several orders of magnitude. We measured a resistivity of approximately 5 x 10(-4) Omega cm in a wide interval of temperature 77-320 K, making this material a promising candidate for a variety of applications. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.