  In this article, an overview of the fabrication and properties of high
quality La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) thin films is given. A high quality LSMO film
combines a smooth surface morphology with a large magnetization and a small
residual resistivity, while avoiding precipitates and surface segregation. In
literature, typically only a few of these issues are adressed. We therefore
present a thorough characterization of our films, which were grown by pulsed
laser deposition. The films were characterized with reflection high energy
electron diffraction, atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, magnetization
and transport measurements, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning
transmission electron microscopy. The films have a saturation magnetization of
4.0 {\mu}B/Mn, a Curie temperature of 350 K and a residual resistivity of 60
{\mu}{\Omega}cm. These results indicate that high quality films, combining both
large magnetization and small residual resistivity, were realized. A comparison
between different samples presented in literature shows that focussing on a
single property is insufficient for the optimization of the deposition process.
For high quality films, all properties have to be adressed. For LSMO devices,
the thin film quality is crucial for the device performance. Therefore, this
research is important for the application of LSMO in devices.
