Electrical transport in La<inf>1-x</inf>Ca<inf>x</inf>MnO<inf>3</inf> thin films at low temperatures

We report here the low-temperature resistivity of the chemical solution deposited La1-xCaxMnO3 (x = 0.2, 0.3 and 0.33) thin films on LaAlO3 substrates. The films were post-annealed in atmosphere at 850°C. The low-temperature resistivity data has been studied in order to understand the nature of low-temperature conduction processes. The data showed T2 dependence from 60 K to 120 K consistent with the single magnon scattering process. The deviation from this quadratic temperature dependence at low temperatures is attributed to the collapse of the minority spin band. The two-magnon and electron-phonon processes contribute to scattering of carriers in the temperature range above 120 K.