The properties of manganite thin films strongly depend on both strain and disorder. Pure strain effects are difficult to distill, and therefore also strain engineering is difficult to perform. Moreover, the perovskite structure allows a large number of modifications, and in ultrathin films, the structure may even depend on the deposition technique. We discuss two different examples of the effects of strain. The first is in ultrathin films of La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ sputter-deposited on SrTiO₃ where, below 5 nm, we find a tetragonal rather than an orthorhombic structure, and the absence of a metal-insulator transition. The second is in thin films of Pr_0.5Ca_0.5MnO₃, also sputter-deposited on SrTiO₃. Here we find that the charge ordering temperature T_co has increased significantly with respect to the bulk value. Preliminary results also indicate that T_co in the films is different from the orbital ordering temperature T_oo, contrary to the findings in bulk materials where both types of ordering are linked and occur at the same temperature.

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