Epitaxial La0.9Ca0.1MnO3 films grown on vicinal cut substrates for the investigation of resistivity and thermoelectric anisotropy

La0.9Ca0.1MnO3 thin films have been grown on 5 degrees vicinal cut SrTiO3 (1 0 0) substrates by pulse laser deposition. The single phase and the epitaxial growth aligned to the c-axis of vicinal cut substrates have been studied by X-ray diffraction analysis. The resistivity versus temperature measurements along and perpendicular to the substrate tilted direction show that the resistivity anisotropy rho(c)/rho(ab) is 22.44 at room temperature, originating from the intrinsic Jahn-Teller distortion, strain and defects. The Seebeck coefficient anisotropy Delta S of 0.317 mu V K-1 attained by laser-induced theroelectric voltages experiment has coincidence with the resistivity anisotropy, which is interpreted by the Mott band theory for Seebeck coefficient approximation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.