Effect of oxygen partial pressure on the electronic and magnetic properties of epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films

We have studied the electronic and magnetic properties of SrRuO3 thin films deposited by pulse laser deposition on SrTiO3 (100) substrate. X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space mappings show the epitaxial nature of the thin films and the formation of different structural phase such as tetragonal and tetragonal + monoclinic phase with oxygen partial pressure. In magnetization versus temperature behaviour we observed the large variation in Curie temperature with oxygen partial pressure. These variations are attributed to the defect induced modification in the local structure comprising RuO6 octahedra.