Antiferromagnetic Oxide Thin Films for Spintronic Applications

Saima Afroz Siddiqui,Axel Hoffmann,Deshun Hong,John E Pearson

doi:10.3390/coatings11070786

Saima Afroz Siddiqui, Axel Hoffmann + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings11070786

Copy DOI

Abstract

Antiferromagnetic oxides have recently gained much attention because of the possibility to manipulate electrically and optically the Néel vectors in these materials. Their ultrafast spin dynamics, long spin diffusion length and immunity to large magnetic fields make them attractive candidates for spintronic applications. Additionally, there have been many studies on spin wave and magnon transport in single crystals of these oxides. However, the successful applications of the antiferromagnetic oxides will require similar spin transport properties in thin films. In this work, we systematically show the sputtering deposition method for two uniaxial antiferromagnetic oxides, namely Cr2O3 and α-Fe2O3, on A-plane sapphire substrates, and identify the optimized deposition conditions for epitaxial films with low surface roughness. We also confirm the antiferromagnetic properties of the thin films. The deposition method developed in this article will be important for studying the magnon transport in these epitaxial antiferromagnetic thin films.

Highlights

Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Abstract: Antiferromagnetic oxides have recently gained much attention because of the possibility to manipulate electrically and optically the Néel vectors in these materials
We show the systematic variation of the thin films properties of two antiferromagnetic hexagonal materials (i.e., Cr2 O3 and αFe2 O3 (Hematite)) by varying the deposition parameters (i.e., O2 flow rate, deposition temperature and deposition pressure)
The crystal orientation and the deposition rate of the epitaxial oxide films are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray reflectivity (XRR), respectively, using the Bruker

Summary

Introduction

Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Abstract: Antiferromagnetic oxides have recently gained much attention because of the possibility to manipulate electrically and optically the Néel vectors in these materials. Their ultrafast spin dynamics, long spin diffusion length and immunity to large magnetic fields make them attractive candidates for spintronic applications. It was shown that the magnon contribution to heat currents in insulating antiferromagnets can give rise to spin Seebeck effects and can be used to inject spin currents into adjacent metallic layers [3,4,5]. Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations

Methods

Results

Conclusion