Electro-thermal bistability in (La0.7Sr0.3) MnO3 suspended microbridges: Thermal characterization and transient analysis

Bistability of the electrical resistance in free-standing (La0.7Sr0.3) MnO3 conducting microbridges under Joule self-heating conditions is reported and modeled by Finite Element Analysis. We show that a low (LRS) and a high (HRS) resistance state can be selected below room temperature, where the typical non-linearity of rho(T) relationship of manganites determines multiple thermal equilibrium conditions. We analyze bistability in microbridges in terms of temperature and heat dissipation conditions. Thanks to the small thermal coupling of the suspended geometry, switching between LRS/HRS can be driven with small amount of power (similar to 250 mu W). Finally, temporal evolution of the transition between the LRS and HRS is discussed in the framework of the heating dynamics. (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.