Modified Surface Electronic and Magnetic Properties of La(0.6)Sr(0.4)MnO(3) Thin Films for Spintronics Applications

• We present the surface electronic and magnetic properties of half-metal La(0.6)Sr(0.4)MnO(3) (LSMO) thin film modified by a simple cleaning procedure, the so-called SC1 (5 H(2)O, 1 NH(4)OH, I H(2)O(2)), at 85 degrees C for 10-40 min in ambient atmosphere. In this study, photoemission spectroscopy (XPS/UPS), X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS), and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) are used to characterize these properties of the manganites. Thanks to SC1 treatment, the work function of LSMO changes from 4.0-4.1 to 4.8-4.9 eV obtained from UPS measurements, while its surface roughness changes from 0.268 to 0.796 nm in AFM images. Combined 0 1s, Mn 2p, Sr 3d, La 4d, and Mn 3s core-level XPS spectroscopy investigations suggest that Mn and Sr contents decrease at the surface and the Mn value becomes 3.7 due to SC1 treament. Mn L-edge XAS spectra of LSMO thin film demonstrate that SC1 treatment results in a removal of Mn(2+) and an increase of the Mn(4+) concentration. OK-edge XAS spectra further prove an enhancement of hybridization between O 2p orbitals and e(g)down arrow, of Mn 3d induced by more Mn(4+). XMCD results show that SC1 treatment does not induce any drastic changes of magnetic properties of the LSMO thin film surface.

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