Magnetic and electrical properties of three-dimensional (La,Pr,Ca)MnO3 nanofilm/ZnO nanorod p–n junctions

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) nanostructured p–n junctions have been fabricated by growing p-type La_0.5Pr_0.17Ca_0.33MnO₃ (LPCMO) manganite thin film on n-type ZnO nanorod arrays using pulsed laser deposition. The 3D LPCMO nanofilm/ZnO nanorod p–n junctions exhibit excellent room temperature rectification performance with a high rectification factor of ∼1650 at ±5.0 V, approximately 14 times larger than that of manganite film- and ZnO nanowires (or film)-based layered p–n junctions. The ferromagnetic phase transition temperature T_C for the LPCMO nanofilm is significantly (∼28 K) higher than that of 2D LPCMO films directly grown on Si substrates, which is interpreted in terms of the nanograin-induced surface effect and lattice strain effect. The large portion of magnetically frozen phase establishes the existence of strong electronic phase separation in the 3D nanofilm.