The magnetic phase transition is experimentally known to give rise to an anomalous temperature-dependence of the electron resistivity in ferromagnetic crystals. Phenomenological theories based on the interaction between itinerant electron spins and lattice spins have been suggested to explain these observations. In this paper, we show by extensive Monte Carlo (MC) simulation the behavior of the resistivity of the spin current calculated as a function of temperature ($T$) from low-$T$ ordered phase to high-$T$ paramagnetic phase in a ferromagnetic film. We analyze in particular effects of film thickness, surface interactions and different kinds of impurities on the spin resistivity across the critical region. The origin of the resistivity peak near the phase transition is shown to stem from the existence of magnetic domains in the critical region. We also formulate in this paper a theory based on the Boltzmann's equation in the relaxation-time approximation. This equation can be solved using numerical data obtained by our simulations. We show that our theory is in a good agreement with our MC results. Comparison with experiments is discussed.
Negative Differential Resistivity and Positive Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity effect in the diffusion limited current of ferroelectric thin film capacitors
The static conductivity of the dilute magnetic semiconductor GaMnAs is calculated using the memory function formalism and time-dependent density-functional theory to account for impurity scattering and to treat Hartree and exchange interactions within the hole gas. We find that the Coulomb scattering off the charged impurities alone is not sufficient to explain the experimentally observed drop in resistivity below the ferromagnetic transition temperature: the often overlooked scattering off the fluctuations of localized spins is shown to play a significant role.
The temperature coefficients of the resistivity (TCR) of Cu, Ru, Co, Ir, and W thin films have been investigated as a function of film thickness below 10 nm. Ru, Co, and Ir show bulk-like TCR values that are rather independent of the thickness whereas the TCR of Cu increases strongly with decreasing thickness. Thin W films show negative TCR values, which can be linked to high disorder. The results are qualitatively consistent with a temperature-dependent semiclassical thin film resistivity model that takes into account phonon, surface, and grain boundary scattering.
We report the controllable growth and the intriguing transport behavior of high-spin-polarization epitaxial L21-Co2MnAl films, which exhibit a low-temperature (T) resistivity upturn with pronounced T1/2 dependence, close relevance to structural disorder, and robust independence of magnetic fields. The resistivity upturn turns out to be qualitatively contradictory to weak localization, particle-particle channel electron-electron interaction (EEI), and orbital two-channel Kondo effect, leaving a three-dimensional particle-hole channel EEI the most likely physical source. Our result highlights a …
We report on the thin film resistivity of several platinum-group metals (Ru, Pd, Ir, Pt). Platinum-group thin films show comparable or lower resistivities than Cu for film thicknesses below about 5\,nm due to a weaker thickness dependence of the resistivity. Based on experimentally determined mean linear distances between grain boundaries as well as ab initio calculations of the electron mean free path, the data for Ru, Ir, and Cu were modeled within the semiclassical Mayadas--Shatzkes model [Phys. Rev. B 1, 1382 (1970)] to assess the combined contributions of surface and grain boundary scatte…
Surface resistivity of hydrogenated amorphous carbon films was measured as a function of the applied electrical field. The measured dependence shows a sharp ambipolar peak near zero gate voltage. Furthermore, we found that in some samples sheet resistance at the peak is as low as 7.5 kΩ/sq. This value is the same order of magnitude as the sheet resistance of a defect free graphene monolayer. Therefore a conclusion is made that an intrinsic graphene with dimensions of at least millimeters exist on the surface of amorphous carbon films. These results can open new perspectives not only for graphe…
We discuss the origin of the temperature dependence of resistivity observed in highly oriented LaNiO_3 thin films (of thickness d) grown on SrTiO_3 substrate by a pulsed laser deposition technique. All the experimental data are found to collapse into a single universal curve [T/T_{sf}(d)]^{3/2} for the entire temperature interval (20K<T<300K) with T_{sf}(d) being the onset temperature for triggering a resonant scattering of conduction electrons by spin fluctuations in LaNiO_3/SrTiO_3 heterostructure.
The origin of the resistivity minimum observed in strongly phase separated manganites has been investigated in single crystalline thin films of LPCMO (x~0.42, y~0.40). The antiferromagnetic/charge ordered insulator (AFM/COI)-ferromagnetic metal (FMM) phase transition, coupled with the colossal hysteresis between the field cool cooled and field cooled warming magnetization demonstrates strongly phase separated nature, which gives rise to non-equilibrium magnetic liquid state that freezes into a magnetic glass. The thermal cycling and magnetic field dependence of the resistivity unambiguously sh…
We report the electromotive force (EMF) properties generated in 3d-transition ferromagnetic metal (FM = Fe, Co, and Ni80Fe20) films themselves under their ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). For Fe and Co films, the EMF due to the anomalous-Hall effect is dominantly generated under their FMR. Meanwhile, for a Ni80Fe20 film, the EMF due to the inverse spin-Hall effect in the Ni80Fe20 film itself under the FMR is mainly generated. This tendency is qualitatively explained with differences of the spin polarization, the spin Hall conductivity, the anomalous Hall conductivity, the magnetization saturatio…
V-telluride superlattice thin films have shown promising performance for on-chip cooling devices. Recent experimental studies have indicated that device performance is limited by the metal/semiconductor electrical contacts. One challenge in realizing a low resistivity contacts is the absence of fundamental knowledge of the physical and chemical properties of interfaces between metal and V-telluride materials. Here we present a combination of experimental and theoretical efforts to understand, design and harness low resistivity contacts to V-tellurides. Ab initio calculations are used to explor…
We develop an advanced analytical model for calculating the broadband stripline ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) response for metallic ferromagnetic films, taking into account the exchange interaction as well as the exchange boundary conditions at the film surface. This approach leads to simple analytical expressions in the Fourier space. As a result, a numerical code which implements inverse Fourier transform of these equations is very quick. This allows us to explore a wide space of parameters as numerical examples of application of this theory. In particular, we investigate the joint effect of…
We fabricated NiFe2O thin films on MgAl2O4 (001) substrates by reactive dc magnetron co-sputtering in a pure oxygen atmosphere at different substrate temperatures. The film properties were investigated by various techniques with a focus on their structure, surface topography, magnetic characteristics, and transport properties. Structural analysis revealed a good crystallization with epitaxial growth and low roughness and a similar quality as in films grown by pulsed laser deposition. Electrical conductivity measurements showed high room temperature resistivity (12 Ohmm), but low activation ene…
We report on a systematic study of the structural, magnetic properties and the anomalous Hall effect, in the Heusler alloy Co2FeAl (CFA) epitaxial films on MgO(001), as a function of film thickness. It was found that the epitaxial CFA films show a highly ordered B2 structure with an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. An analysis of the electrical transport properties reveals that the lattice and magnon scattering contributions to the longitudinal resistivity. Independent on the thickness of films, the anomalous Hall resistivity of CFA films is found to be dominated by skew scattering only.…
This paper addresses the effect of disorder on the carrier transport mechanism of atomic layer deposited ZnO thin films as has been investigated by temperature dependent electrical resistivity measurements in the temperature range of 4.2K to 300K. Films were grown on (0001) sapphire substrate at different substrate temperatures varying from 150 to 350 C. The defects and structural disorder in the films were found to be strongly dependent on their growth temperature. The films grown at 150, 300 and 350 C were found to be semiconductor-like in the whole measurement temperature range of resistivi…
Temperature dependent electrical resistivity and thermopower measurements were carried out on Gd1-xCaxBaCo2O5.53 with x varying between 0 and 0.25. Ca subsitution leads to the incorporation of holes (Co4+) into the system that leads to a reduction in resistivity and a stabilisation of the ferromagnetic phase at low temperatures. The temperature dependence of resistivity and thermopower are markedly different in the Ca doped sample, with a dramatic reduction in the resistivity, as compared to that in the pristine sample. The variation in both the resistivity and thermopower with temperature is …
Fabrication and characterization of single-crystalline CoSn (10-10) kagome metal thin films for interconnect applications: structure and anisotropic electrical resistivity
Describing the origin of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) is generally problematic in systems other than single crystals. We demonstrate an in-plane UMA in amorphous CoFeB films on GaAs(001) which has the expected symmetry of the interface anisotropy in ferromagnetic films on GaAs(001), but strength which is independent of, rather than in inverse proportion to, the film thickness. We show that this volume UMA is consistent with a bond-orientational anisotropy, which propagates the interface-induced UMA through the thickness of the amorphous film. It is explained how, in general, this mechani…
The broadband microstrip ferromagnetic resonance technique has been applied for detection and characterization of a magnetic inhomogeneity in a film sample. In the case of a 100nm thick Permalloy film an additional magnetically depleted top sub-layer, practically unidentifiable by the conventional ferromagnetic resonance setup, has been detected and characterized. These results have been confirmed by Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy revealing the fact that the optical properties of the additional sub-layer do not differ much from those of the bulk of the film. Subsequent characterizatio…
A coplanar waveguide shorted in one end is proposed, designed, and implemented successfully to measure the properties of magnetic thin films as a part of the vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) spectroscopy set-up. Its simple structure, potential applications and easy installation inside the cryostat chamber made it advantageous especially for low-temperature measurements. It provides a wide band of frequencies in the gigahertz range essential for FMR measurements. Our spectroscopy set-up with short-circuited coplanar waveguide has been used to extract Gilbert damping coe…
Si doped ZnO thin films with Si concentrations ranging from 0.4 to 10 % have been grown by sequential pulsed laser deposition on sapphire substrates. The resistivity of the films first decreased from ~ 6.6x10-3 to 4.7x10-4 ohm-cm as the Si concentration was increased from ~ 0.4 to 2% and then it increased with further increase in Si concentration. The electron concentrations in the films were in the range from 3x1019 to 4x1020 cm-3 showing their degenerate nature. However, temperature dependent resistivity measurements in the range from 300 to 4.2 K revealed negative temperature coefficient of…
Second order perturbed Heisenberg Hamiltonian was employed to study the variation of energy of ferromagnetic thick films with demagnetization factor. Under the influence of demagnetization factor given by =6.6, the sc(001) film with 10000 layers can be easily oriented in 0.6 radians direction for the values of energy parameters used in this report. Easy direction of thick fcc(001) film with 10000 layers was determined at 0.66 radians, when the demagnetization factor is given by =2.6. The energy of sc(001) thick film is larger than that of fcc(001) thick film. But the energy curve of fcc(001) t…
In this work we constructed a two-dimensional numerical model for calculation of the stripline ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) response of metallic ferromagnetic films. We also conducted numerical calculations by using this software. The calculations demonstrated that the eddy current contribution to the FMR response decreases with a decrease in the stripline width. The most important manifestations of the conductivity (eddy current) effect are excitation of the higher-order standing spin waves across the film thickness in the materials for which the standing spin wave peaks would be absent in c…
The magnetic easy axis orientation was studied by the third order perturbed Heisenberg Hamiltonian. Ferromagnetic CoPt/AlN multilayer thin films with number of layers N=11, 16 and 21 synthesized on fused quartz substrates using dc magnetron sputtering technique have been employed as experimental data. According to experimental research performed by some other researchers, easy axis of these fcc structured ferromagnetic films is oriented in the plane of the film at one particular temperature. Average value of out of plane spin component was plotted against temperature in order to determine the …
In view of their immensely intriguing properties, two dimensional materials are being intensely researched in search of novel phenomena and diverse application interests, however, studies on the realization of nanocomposites in the application-worthy thin-film platform are rare. Here we have grown MoS2-hBN composite thin films on different substrates by the pulsed laser deposition technique and made comparative studies with the pristine MoS2 and hBN films. The Raman, XPS and HRTEM confirm the concomitant presence of both the 1T (conducting) and 2H (semiconducting) polymorphs of MoS2 in the com…
Resistive solid state sensors are widely used in multiple applications, including molecular and gas detection. Absorption or intercalation of the target species varies the lattice parameters and an effective thickness of thin films, which is usually neglected in analyzing their transport properties in general and the sensor response in particular. Here, we explore the case of palladium-based thin films absorbing hydrogen and demonstrate that expansion of thickness is an important mechanism determining the magnitude and the very polarity of the resistance response to hydrogenation in high resis…
Although pinning of domain walls in ferromagnets is ubiquitous, the absence of an appropriate characterization tool has limited the ability to correlate the physical and magnetic microstructures of ferromagnetic films with specific pinning mechanisms. Here, we show that the pinning of a magnetic vortex, the simplest possible domain structure in soft ferromagnets, is strongly correlated with surface roughness, and we make a quantitative comparison of the pinning energy and spatial range in films of various thickness. The results demonstrate that thickness fluctuations on the lateral length scal…
Inertial magnetization dynamics have been predicted at ultrahigh speeds, or frequencies approaching the energy relaxation scale of electrons, in ferromagnetic metals. Here we identify inertial terms to magnetization dynamics in thin Ni$_{79}$Fe$_{21}$ and Co films near room temperature. Effective magnetic fields measured in high-frequency ferromagnetic resonance (115-345 GHz) show an additional stiffening term which is quadratic in frequency and $\sim$ 80 mT at the high frequency limit of our experiment. Our results extend understanding of magnetization dynamics at sub-picosecond time scales.
All the simulations were carried out for sc(001) film with three (N=3) layers. The effect of applied magnetic field and stress induced anisotropy on energy of ultra-thin ferromagnetic films has been investigated using Heisenberg Hamiltonian with second order perturbation. The energy becomes minimums at certain values of angles, applied magnetic field and stress, by indicating that film can be easily oriented in theses certain directions by applying particular applied magnetic field or stress. For example, when applied magnetic field perpendicular to film plane is 3.6, the film can be easily or…
A realistic tight-binding model is developed and employed to elucidate the resistivity size effect due to steps on Ru thin films. The resistivity of two different film orientations, $(0001)$ and $(1 \bar{1}00)$, is computed for transport along a $[1 1 \bar{2} 0]$ direction both for smooth surfaces and for surfaces with monolayer-high steps. In the case of smooth films, the systems are also studied using solutions to the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE). Interestingly, the resistivity of $(1 \bar{1}00)$ surfaces exhibits a significant size effect even in the absence of surface steps. When mon…
The resistivity and the Hall effect in the copper-oxide high-temperature superconductor YBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-δ}$ (YBCO) are remarkably anisotropic. Using a thin film of YBCO grown on an off-axis cut SrTiO$_3$ substrate allows one to investigate these anisotropic transport properties in a planar and well-defined sample geometry employing a homogeneous current density. In the normal state, the Hall voltage probed parallel to the copper-oxide layers is positive and strongly temperature dependent, whereas the out-of-plane Hall voltage is negative and almost temperature independent. The results c…
Bismuth chalcogenides are the most studied 3D topological insulators. As a rule, at low temperatures thin films of these materials demonstrate positive magnetoresistance due to weak antilocalization. Weak antilocalization should lead to resistivity decrease at low temperatures; in experiments, however, resistivity grows as temperature decreases. From transport measurements for several thin films (with various carrier density, thickness, and carrier mobility), and by using purely phenomenological approach, with no microscopic theory, we show that the low temperature growth of the resistivity is…
We constructed a quasi-analytical self-consistent model of the stripline-based broadband ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements of ferromagnetic films. Exchange-free description of magnetization dynamics in the films allowed us to obtain simple analytical expressions. They enable quick and efficient numerical simulations of the dynamics. With this model we studied the contribution of radiation losses to the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth, as measured with the stripline FMR. We found that for films with large conductivity of metals the radiation losses are significantly smaller than for …
We followed the evolution of the normal and superconducting properties of Al thin films after each session of various successive oxygen irradiations at ambient temperature. Such irradiated films, similar to the granular ones, exhibit enhanced superconductivity, Kondo behavior and negative-curvature resistivity. Two distinct roles of oxygen are identified: as a damage-causing projectile and as an implanted oxidizing agent. The former gives rise to the processes involved in the conventional recovery stages. The latter, considered within the context of the Cabrera-Mott model, gives rise to a mult…
