Abstract
We report on a strain-induced and temperature dependent uniaxial anisotropy in V2O3/Ni hybrid thin films, manifested through the interfacial strain and sample microstructure, and its consequences on the angular dependent magnetization reversal. X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space maps identify the in-plane crystalline axes of the V2O3; atomic force and scanning electron microscopy reveal oriented rips in the film microstructure. Quasi-static magnetometry and dynamic ferromagnetic resonance measurements identify a uniaxial magnetic easy axis along the rips. Comparison with films grown on sapphire without rips shows a combined contribution from strain and microstructure in the V2O3/Ni films. Magnetization reversal characteristics captured by angular-dependent first order reversal curve measurements indicate a strong domain wall pinning along the direction orthogonal to the rips, inducing an angular-dependent change in the reversal mechanism. The resultant anisotropy is tunable with temperature and is most pronounced at room temperature, which is beneficial for potential device applications.
Highlights
Proximity effects in heterostructures are of keen interest in magnetism due to both emergent phenomena[1,2,3,4] and potential applications, e.g., in advanced data storage and sensor technologies[5,6,7,8,9]
Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) results show these rips attenuate magnon excitation, while strain induced by microstructural terracing causes an effective uniaxial anisotropy field of 9.8 mT, emphasizing the combined contributions from sample microstructure and strain
The effective anisotropy was demonstrated to be tunable by temperature, with the effect being much weaker below the V2O3 structural phase transition (SPT)
Summary
Proximity effects in heterostructures are of keen interest in magnetism due to both emergent phenomena[1,2,3,4] and potential applications, e.g., in advanced data storage and sensor technologies[5,6,7,8,9]. An interface roughness of 1.5 nm suppressed the coercivity spike, while a general increase in HC due to an isotropic strain persisted This emphasizes the sensitivity of the V2O3/Ni system to its microstructure. With the current interest in strain control of materials, including magnetic materials[18] and multiferroics[19,20,21], among others[22,23], understanding the intricacies of strain and its potential interplay with the microstructure is of crucial importance This interest, and the known sensitivity of the (V2O3, VO2)/Ni system, motivates an investigation on how the magnetic properties are impacted by the strain through the in-plane microstructure. Comparison measurements performed on sapphire/Ni samples without rips show similar uniaxial anisotropy, but without the magnon damping, suggesting that both the strain and microstructure are important in the observed properties of V2O3/Ni films. The presence of oriented, in-plane magnetic anisotropy, emergent without patterning or magneto-crystalline considerations, offers new opportunities for scalable nanomagnetic devices
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