Effect of substrate-induced strain on the charge-ordering transition in Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 thin films

We report the synthesis and characterization of Nd0.5Sr0.5MnO3 thin films grown by the pulsed laser deposition technique on [100]-oriented LaAlO3 substrates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies show that the films are [101] oriented, with a strained and quasi-relaxed component, the latter increasing with film thickness. We observe that transport properties are strongly dependent on the thickness of the films. Variable temperature XRD down to 100 K suggests that this is caused by substrate-induced strain on the films.