Structure and magnetic properties of epitaxial CaFe2O4 thin films
Silvia Damerio, Pavan Nukala, Jean Juraszek, Pim Reith, Hans Hilgenkamp, Beatriz Noheda
备注：
Changes are made to take into account the newly published paper by Songvilay et al. (PRB 101,014407) Changes are in last sentence of the abstract, 5th paragraph of the discussion section and conclusions paragraph
CaFe2O4 is a highly anisotropic antiferromagnet reported to display two spin arrangements with up-up-down-down (phase A) and up-down-up-down (phase B) configurations. The relative stability of these phases is ruled by the competing ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic interactions between Fe3+ spins arranged in two different environments, but a complete understanding of the magnetic structure of this material does not exist yet. In this study we investigate epitaxial CaFe2O4 thin films grown on TiO2 (110) substrates by means of Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). Structural characterization reveals the coexistence of two out-of-plane crystal orientations and the formation of three in-plane oriented domains. The magnetic properties of the films, investigated macroscopically as well as locally, including highly sensitive Mossbauer spectroscopy, reveal the presence of just one order parameter showing long-range ordering below T = 185 K and the critical nature of the transition. In addition, a non-zero in-plane magnetization is found, consistent with the presence of uncompensated spins at phase or domain boundaries, as proposed for bulk samples.
The lattice of (001)-oriented BiFeO$_3$ epitaxial thin film has been identified by synchrotron x-ray diffraction. By choosing proper scattering zones containing the fixed (001) reflection, we have shown that low-symmetry phases similar to a $M_A$ phase exist in the thin film at room temperature. These results demonstrate a change in phase stability from rhombohedral in bulk single crystals, to a modified monoclinic structure in epitaxial thin films.
About ten years after ferroelectricity was first reported in doped HfO2 polycrystalline films, there is tremendous interest in this material and ferroelectric oxides are once again in the spotlight of the memories industry. Great efforts are being made to understand and control ferroelectric properties. Epitaxial films, which have fewer defects and a more controlled microstructure than polycrystalline films, can be very useful for this purpose. Epitaxial films of ferroelectric HfO2 have been much less investigated, but after the first report in 2015 significant progress has been achieved. This…
Doping ferroelectric Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 with La is a promising route to improve endurance. However, the beneficial effect of La on the endurance of polycrystalline films may be accompanied by degradation of the retention. We have investigated the endurance - retention dilemma in La-doped epitaxial films. Compared to undoped epitaxial films, large values of polarization are obtained in a wider thickness range, whereas the coercive fields are similar, and the leakage current is substantially reduced. Compared to polycrystalline La-doped films, epitaxial La-doped films show more fatigue but there is no…
The first epitaxial ferroelectric wurtzite film with clear polarization-electric field hysteresis behavior is presented. The coercive field of this epitaxial Al0.7Sc0.3N film on W/c-sapphire substrate is 0.4 +- 0.3 MV cm-1 (8 %) smaller than that of a conventional fiber textured film on a Pt/TiOx/SiO2/Si substrate, attributed to the 0.01 +- 0.007 Å smaller c-axis lattice parameter in the epitaxial film. The strain and decrease of the coercive field most likely originate from epitaxial strain rather than the mismatch in thermal coefficient of expansion. These results provide an insight for furt…
In order to obtain Ni-Mn-Ga epitaxial films crystallized in martensite structures showing Magnetic-Induced Rearrangement (MIR) of martensite variants, a fine control of the composition is required. Here we present how the co-sputtering process might be helpful in the development of Ni-Mn-Ga epitaxial films. A batch of epitaxial Ni-Mn-Ga films deposited by co-sputtering of a Ni-Mn-Ga ternary target and a pure manganese target has been studied. The co-sputtering process allows a precise control of the film compositions and enables keeping the epitaxial growth of Ni-Mn-Ga austenite during deposit…
The authors demonstrated that a full-Heusler Co2FeGe (CFG) alloy thin film was epitaxially grown by rapid-thermal-annealing-induced germanidation of an Fe/Co/pseudo-Ge(001)-on-insulator (GOI) multilayer formed on a Si-on-insulator (SOI) substrate. X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements with the out-of-plane and in-plane configurations revealed that the CFG film was epitaxially grown along the [001] direction with the in-plane epitaxial relation of CFG[100]||GOI[100], although the film slightly contained a texture component. The strong (111) and (200) superlattice diffraction intensities indicate…
Thin epitaxial GaAs films, with thickness varying from 140 to 1000 nm and different Si doping levels, were grown at 650C by organometallic vapor phase epitaxy (OMVPE) on Ge substrates and extensively analyzed by low-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy.
Epitaxial copper thin films were deposited by magnetron sputtering. The adatoms during deposition are influenced by deposition parameters which cause variations in thin film properties. XRD and FESEM studies were done to get an insight into the growth mechanisms of the films. A modeling has been done on the epitaxial thin film growth with sputtering process. The parameters during sputtering like, sputtering yield, pressure, temperature, current density, deposition time were related and an attempt has been made to analyze the sputtering process.
We present results on growth of large area epitaxial ReS2 thin film both on c plane sapphire substrate and MoS2 template by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). Films tend to grow with (0001) ReS2 perpendicular to (0001) Al2O3 and (0001) ReS2 perpendicular to (0001) MoS2 parallel to (0001) Al2O3 at deposition temperature below 300 deg C. Films are polycrystalline grown at temperature above 300 deg C. The smoothness and quality of the films are significantly improved when grown on MoS2 template compared to sapphire substrate. The results show that PLD is suitable to grow ReS2 epitaxial thin film over…
A method is developed which allows to determine the first-order and the second-order magnetoelastic coefficients of a magnetic bulk material from the ab-initio calculation of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy energy as function of a prestrain. Excplicit results are given for bcc Fe, and they agree well with experimental data obtained from the magnetostrictive stress measurements for epitaxial Fe films.
Transition metal oxide thin films show versatile electrical, magnetic, and thermal properties which can be tailored by deliberately introducing macroscopic grain boundaries via polycrystalline solids. In this study, we focus on the modification of the magnetic and thermal transport properties by fabricating single- and polycrystalline epitaxial SrRuO3 thin films using pulsed laser epitaxy. Using epitaxial stabilization technique with atomically flat polycrystalline SrTiO3 substrate, epitaxial polycrystalline SrRuO3 thin film with crystalline quality of each grain comparable to that of single-c…
We report on the effect of epitaxial strain on magnetic and optical properties of perovskite LaCrO3 (LCO) single crystal thin films. Epitaxial LCO thin films are grown by pulsed laser deposition on proper choice of substrates to impose different strain states. A combined experimental and theoretical approach is used to demonstrate the direct correlation between lattice-strain and functional properties. The magnetization results show that the lattice anisotropy plays a critical role in controlling the magnetic behavior of LCO films. The strain induced tetragonality in the film lattice strongly …
We demonstrate high-quality epitaxial germanium (Ge) films on a metallic silicide, Fe3Si, grown directly on a Ge(111) substrate. Using molecular beam epitaxy techniques, we can obtain an artificially controlled arrangement of silicon (Si) or iron (Fe) atoms at the surface on Fe3Si(111). The Si-terminated Fe3Si(111) surface enables us to grow two-dimensional epitaxial Ge films, whereas the Fe-terminated one causes the three-dimensional epitaxial growth of Ge films. The high-quality Ge grown on the Si-terminated surface has almost no strain, meaning that the Ge films are not grown on the low-tem…
Epitaxial films have the potential to be used as model systems for fundamental investigations on the martensitic transformation in binary NiTi. In this paper, we discuss growth of binary NiTi thin films on single crystalline MgO substrates. Sputter deposition is used to grow NiTi films. Films prepared by complementary preparation routes (with different deposition temperatures and subsequent heat treatments) are investigated by X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, and electrical resistivity measurements, with the aim of optimizing film properties, particularly to obt…
We showed that a wetting layer in epitaxially strained thin films which decreases with increasing lattice mismatch strain arises due to the variation of nonlinear elastic free energy with film thickness. We calculated how and at what thickness a flat film becomes unstable to perturbations of varying size for films with both isotropic and anisotropic surface tension. We showed that anisotropic surface tension gives rise to a metastable enlarged wetting layer. The perturbation amplitude needed to destabilize this wetting layer decreases with increasing lattice mismatch. We also studied the early…
We analyze X-ray diffraction data used to extract cell parameters of ultrathin films on closely matching substrates. We focus on epitaxial La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 films grown on (001) SrTiO3 single crystalline substrates. It will be shown that, due to extremely high structural similarity of film and substrate, data analysis must explicitly consider the distinct phase of the diffracted waves by substrate and films to extract reliable unit cell parameters. The implications of this finding for the understanding of strain effects in ultrathin films and interfaces will be underlined
Chalcogenide perovskites have emerged as a new class of electronic materials, but fundamental properties and applications of chalcogenide perovskites remain limited by the lack of high quality epitaxial thin films. We report epitaxial thin film growth of BaZrS3, a prototypical chalcogenide, by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction studies show that the films are strongly textured out of plane and have a clear in-plane epitaxial relationship with the substrate. Electron microscopy studies confirm the presence of epitaxy for the first few layers of the film at the interface, even though awa…
Epitaxial films of bismuth telluride topological insulators have received increasing attention due to potential applications in spintronic and quantum computation. One of the most important properties of epitaxial films is the presence of interface defects due to lateral lattice mismatch since electrically active defects can drastically compromise device performance. By describing hybrid reflections in hexagonal bismuth telluride films on cubic substrates, in-plane lattice mismatches were characterized with accuracy at least 20 times better than using other X-ray diffraction methods, providing…
I present here theory of PZT thin film - MgO substrate system thermal expansion effect. I show that elastic properties of the substrate have to be taken into account to describe this effect.
We investigated the ferroelectric domain wall propagation in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 thin films over a wide temperature range (3 - 300 K). We measured the domain wall velocity under various electric fields and found that the velocity data is strongly nonlinear with electric fields, especially at low temperature. We found that, as one of surface growth problems, our domain wall velocity data from ferroelectric epitaxial film could be classified into the creep, depinning, and flow regimes due to competition between disorder and elasticity. The measured values of velocity and dynamical exponents in…
Thin epitaxial films of metals on insulating substrates are essential for many applications, as conducting layers, in magnetic devices or as templates for further growth. In this work, we report on the growth of epitaxial Ru films on single-crystalline Al$_2$O$_3$(0001) substrates by magnetron sputtering and their subsequent systematic characterization using Rutherford backscattering spectrometry of He ions both in random and in channeling conditions. We include results of a Ru(0001) single crystal for comparison. Analysis of channeling shows that films thicker than 35 nm grow with (0001) orie…
We investigated the origin of ferromagnetism in epitaxially grown Mn-doped Ge thin films. Using low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy, Mn-doped Ge films were successfully grown without precipitation of ferromagnetic Ge-Mn intermetallic compounds, such as Mn5Ge3. Magnetic circular dichroism measurements revealed that the epitaxially grown Mn-doped Ge films exhibited clear ferromagnetic behavior, but the Zeeman splitting observed at the critical points was not induced by the s,p-d exchange interactions. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy an…
The experimental data on the thermal properties of the nanostructured perovskite ferroelectrics are presented and analysed. The ability of the modified 3w method for specific heat measurements is discussed and illustrated by the thermal properties of the thin polycrystalline (BaTiO3 on fused SiO2, 50-1100 nm) and epitaxial (BaTiO3 on MgO, 50-500 nm) films. The similarity of specific heat, phase transition excess entropy evolution in polycrystalline films and nanograined ceramics is revealed. The data on the specific heat of epitaxial films show the extremely diffused anomaly near 400 K, the ph…
Magnetite epitaxial thin films have been prepared by pulsed laser deposition at 340 C on MgO and Si substrates. One key result is that the thin film properties are almost identical to the properties of bulk material. For 40 - 50 nm thick films, the saturation magnetization and conductivity are respectively 453 emu/cm^3 and 225 1/(Ohm cm) at room temperature. The Verwey transition is at 117 K. The Hall effect indicates an electron concentration corresponding to 0.22 electrons per formula unit at room temperature. Normal and anomalous Hall effect both have a negative sign.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and analysis for epitaxial iron selenide thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) are presented. The films contain $β$-FeSe and Fe$_7$Se$_8$ phases in a double epitaxy configuration with the $β$-FeSe phase (001) oriented on the (001) MgO growth substrate. Fe$_7$Se$_8$ simultaneously takes on two different epitaxial orientations in certain growth conditions, exhibiting both (101)- and (001)- orientations. Each of these orientations are verified with the presented XRD data. Additionally, XRD data used to determine the PLD target composition as well as mosaic…
Mechanical restoring forces acting on ferroelastic domain walls displaced from the equilibrium positions in epitaxial films are calculated for various modes of their cooperative translational oscillations. For vibrations of the domain-wall superlattice with the wave vectors corresponding to the center and boundaries of the first Brillouin zone, the soft modes are singled out that are distinguished by a minimum magnitude of the restoring force. It is shown that, in polydomain ferroelectric thin films, the soft modes of wall vibrations may create enormously large contribution to the film permitt…
Domain structures of 320 nm thin epitaxial films of ferroelectric PbTiO3 grown by MOCVD technique in identical conditions on SmScO3 and TbScO3 perovskite sub- strates have been investigated by Raman spectroscopy and piezoresponse force microscopy techniques. Phonon frequency shifts and typical domain structure motifs are discussed. The results reveal strikingly different domain structure architecture: domain structures of the PbTiO3 film grown on SmScO3 have dominantly a-domain orientation while strongly preferential c-domain orientation was found in the PbTiO3 film grown on the TbScO3 substra…
We present a study of the synthesis of epitaxial V$_2$O$_3$ films on $c$-plane Al$_2$O$_3$ substrates by reactive dc-magnetron sputtering. The results reveal a temperature window, at substantially lower values than previously reported, wherein epitaxial films can be obtained when deposited on [0001] oriented surfaces. The films display a metal-insulator transition with a change in resistance of up to four orders of magnitude, strongly dependent on the O$_2$ partial pressure during deposition. While the electronic properties of the films show sensitivity to the amount of O$_2$ present during de…
In this paper we report the deposition of epitaxial thin films of Nd1-xSrxCoO3 with x=0, 0.2 and 0.5 on single crystalline substrates (SrTiO3 and LaAlO3) carried out by means of rf-magnetron sputtering. The deposited films are all completely oriented and epitaxial and characterized by a nanocrystalline morphology. As-deposited films have an average roughness around 1 nm while after the thermal treatment this increases up to 20 nm while preserving the nanocrystalline morphology. All the films deposited on SrTiO3 have shown to be under a certain degree of tensile strain while those on the LaAlO3…
Flexoelectricity describes the coupling between polarization and strain/stress gradients in insulating crystals. In this paper, using the Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire phenomenological approach, we found that flexoelectricity could increase the theoretical critical thickness in epitaxial BaTiO3 thin films, below which the switchable spontaneous polarization vanishes. This increase is remarkable in tensile films while trivial in compressive films due to the electrostriction caused decrease of potential barrier, which can be easily destroyed by the flexoelectricity, between the ferroelectric state …
The metastable orthorhombic phase of hafnia is generally obtained in polycrystalline films, whereas in epitaxial films, its formation has been much less investigated. We have grown Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 films by pulsed laser deposition, and the growth window (temperature and oxygen pressure during deposition and film thickness) for epitaxial stabilization of the ferroelectric phase is mapped. The remnant ferroelectric polarization, up to around 24 uC/cm2, depends on the amount of orthorhombic phase and interplanar spacing and increases with temperature and pressure for a fixed film thickness. The leaka…
We demonstrate room temperature ferroelectricity in the epitaxial thin films of magnetoelectric GaFeO3. Piezo-force measurements show a 180o phase shift of piezoresponse upon switching the electric field indicating nanoscale ferroelectricity in epitaxial thin films of gallium ferrite. Further, temperature dependent impedance analysis with and without the presence of an external magnetic field clearly reveals a pronounced magneto-dielectric effect across the magnetic transition temperature. In addition, our first principles calculations show that Fe ions are not only responsible for ferrimagnet…
We develop a phenomenological thermodynamic theory of ferroelectric BaTiO3 (BT) thin films epitaxially grown on cubic substrates using the Landau-Devonshire eight-order potential. The constructed "misfit-temperature" phase diagram is asymmetrical. We found that, overall view of the phase diagram depends on the values of compliances used in calculations and provide two qualitatively different diagrams. A thermodynamic path for BT film grown onto particular substrate can be found using a plot of the room-temperature tetragonal distortion (c-a)/a as a function of misfit strain.
The mean-field Landau-type theory is used to analyze the polarization properties of epitaxial ferroelectric thin films grown on dissimilar cubic substrates, which induce biaxial compressive stress in the film plane. The intrinsic effect of the film surfaces on the spontaneous polarization is taken into account via the concept of the extrapolation length. The theory simultaneously allows for the influence of the misfit strain imposed on the film lattice by a thick substrate. Numerical calculations are performed for PbTiO3 and BaTiO3 films under an assumption of the polarization reduction in sur…
We demonstrate that SrRuO3 and CaRuO3 thin films undergo a room temperature structural phase transition driven by the substrate imposed epitaxial biaxial strain. As tensile strain increases, ARuO3 (A=Ca, Sr) films transform from the orthorhombic phase which is usually observed in bulk SrRuO3 and CaRuO3 at room temperature, into a tetragonal phase which in bulk samples is only stable at higher temperatures. More importantly, we show that the observed phenomenon strongly affects the electronic and magnetic properties of ARuO3 thin films that are grown on different single crystal substrates which…
A micromechanical model based on the theory of elasticity has been developed to study the configuration of self-assembled impurity nanostructures in high temperature superconducting YBCO films. With the calculated equilibrium strain and elastic energy of the impurity doped film, a phase diagram of lattice mismatches $vs.$ elastic constants of the dopant was obtained for the energetically-preferred orientation of impurity nanorods. The calculation of the nanorod orientation and the film lattice deformation has yielded an excellent agreement with experimental measurements.
We report on the structural properties of epitaxial FeO layers grown by molecular beam epitaxy on MgO(111). The successful stabilization of polar FeO films as thick as 16 monolayers (ML), obtained by deposition and subsequent oxidation of single Fe layers, is presented. FeO/MgO(111) thin films were chemically and structurally characterized using low-energy electron diffraction, Auger electron spectroscopy and conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS). Detailed in situ CEMS measurements as a function of the film thickness demonstrated a size-effect-induced evolution of the hyperfine par…
A Landau-Ginsburg-Devonshire-type nonlinear phenomenological theory is presented, which enables the thermodynamic description of dense laminar polydomain states in epitaxial ferroelectric thin films. The theory explicitly takes into account the mechanical substrate effect on the polarizations and lattice strains in dissimilar elastic domains (twins). Numerical calculations are performed for PbTiO3 and BaTiO3 films grown on (001)-oriented cubic substrates. The "misfit strain-temperature" phase diagrams are developed for these films, showing stability ranges of various possible polydomain and si…
A thermodynamic theory is developed for dense laminar domain structures in epitaxial ferrolectric films. It is found that, at some critical misfit strain between the film and substrate, the 90 degrees c/a/c/a domain structure becomes unstable with respect to the appearance of the polarization component parallel to domain walls, which results in the formation of a heterophase structure. For PbTiO_3 and BaTiO_3 films, the stability ranges of polydomain and heterophase states are determined using "misfit strain - temperature" diagrams. Dielectric anomalies accompanying misfit-strain-driven struct…
We report epitaxial synthesis of superconducting CsxWO3 (x = 0.11, 0.20, 0.31) films on Y-stabilized ZrO2 (111) substrates. The hexagonal crystal structure was verified not only for composition within the stable region of bulk (x = 0.20, 0.31), but also for the out-of-range composition (x = 0.11). The onset of superconducting transition temperature (TC) was recorded 5.8 K for x = 0.11. We found strong correlation between TC and c-axis length, irrespective of the Cs content. The results indicate that hidden superconducting phase region of hexagonal tungsten bronze is accessible by using epitaxi…
The growth and characterization of epitaxial Co3O4(111) films grown by oxygen plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy on single crystalline a-Al2O3(0001) is reported. The Co3O4(111) grows single crystalline with the epitaxial relation Co3O4(111)[-12-1]||a-Al2O3(0001)[10-10], as determined from in situ electron diffraction. Film stoichiometry is confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, while ex situ x-ray diffraction measurements show that the Co3O4 films are fully relaxed. Post-growth annealing induces significant modifications in the film morphology, including a sharper Co3O4/a-Al2O3 int…
We report on epitaxial growth of single-phase [Pb(Zr0.57Ti0.43)O3]0.8[Pb(Fe2/3W1/3)O3]0.2 (PZT-PFW) solid-solution thin films using pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction measurements reveal that the films have a tetragonal structure. The films exhibit ferroelectric properties and weak ferromagnetic responses at room temperature. Magnetoelectric effects were investigated; the nonlinear magnetoelectric coefficient was measured and found to be comparable to those of multiferroic hexagonal manganites, but at least two orders of magnitude smaller than that for polycrystalline PZT-PFW films.
The longitudinal spin Seebeck effect (LSSE) has been investigated in high-quality epitaxial CoFe2O4 (CFO) thin films. The thermally excited spin currents in the CFO films are electrically detected in adjacent Pt layers due to the inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). The LSSE signal exhibits a linear increase with increasing temperature gradient, yielding a LSSE coefficient of ~100 nV/K at room temperature. The temperature dependence of the LSSE is investigated from room temperature down to 30 K, showing a significant reduction at low temperatures, revealing that the total amount of thermally gener…
Ni-Mn-Ga films in the austenite and the martensite structures at room temperature have been obtained using the DC magnetron sputtering technique. Two elaboration processes were studied. A first batch of samples was deposited using a resist sacrificial layer in order to release the film from the substrate before vacuum annealing. This process leads to polycrystalline films with a strong (022) fiber texture. The martensitic phase transformation of such polycrystalline freestanding films has been studied by optical and scanning electron microscopy. A second batch of samples was grown epitaxially …
Single crystal epitaxial thin films of UN and U$_2$N$_3$ have been grown for the first time by reactive DC magnetron sputtering. These films provide ideal samples for fundamental research into the potential accident tolerant fuel, UN, and U$_2$N$_3$, its intermediate oxidation product. Films were characterised using x-ray diffraction (XRD) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), with XRD analysis showing both thin films to be [001] oriented and composed of a single domain. The specular lattice parameters of the UN and U$_2$N$_3$ films were found to be 4.895\,Å and 10.72\,Å, respectively, w…
A theoretical study of the structural transition of impurity nanorod array in epitaxial YBCO films on vicinal STO substrates is presented. Two possible types of film/substrate interface were considered with one assuming a complete coherence while the other, defective as manifested in presence of anti-phase grain boundaries. Only in the former case, the increase of the vicinal angle of the substrate leads to a substantial change of the strain field in the film, resulting in a transition of the nanorod orientation from the normal to in-plane direction of the film. The calculation of the threshol…
The strain dependence of electric and magnetic properties has been widely investigated, both from a fundamental science perspective and an applications point of view. Electromechanical coupling through field-induced polarization rotation (PRO) and polarization reorientation (PRE) in piezoelectric single crystals can provide an effective strain in film/substrate epitaxial heterostructures. However, the specific pathway of PRO and PRE is a complex thermodynamic process, depending on chemical composition, temperature, electric field and mechanical load. Here, systematic studies of the temperature…
We present electric and magnetic properties of 0.8Pb(Fe1/2Nb1/2)O3-0.2Pb(Mg1/2W1/2)O3 films epitaxially grown on (001) SrTiO3 substrates using pulsed laser deposition. A narrow deposition window around 710 oC and 0.2 mbar has been identified to achieve epitaxial single-phase thin films. A typical Vogel-Fulcher relaxor-like dielectric and magnetic susceptibility dispersion is observed, suggesting magnetoelectric relaxor behavior in these films similar to the bulk. We determine a magnetic cluster freezing temperature of 36 K, while observing weak ferromagnetism via magnetic hysteresis loops up t…
Several SrTiO3 (STO) thin films without electrodes processed by pulsed laser deposition, of thicknesses down to 40 nm, were studied using infrared transmission and reflection spectroscopy. The complex dielectric responses of polar phonon modes, particularly ferroelectric soft mode, in the films were determined quantitatively. The compressed epitaxial STO films on (100) La0.18Sr0.82Al0.59-Ta0.41O3 substrates (strain 0.9%) show strongly stiffened phonon responses, whereas the soft mode in polycrystalline film on (0001) sapphire substrate shows a strong broadening due to grain boundaries and/or o…
Thin films of the proposed topological insulator PdLuBi - a Heusler compound with the C1b structure - were prepared on Ta-Mo-buffered MgO(100) substrates by co-sputtering from PdBi2 and Lu targets. Epitaxial growth of high-quality PdLuBi films was confirmed by X-ray spectrometry and reflection high-energy electron diffraction. The root-mean-square roughness of the films was as low as 1.45 nm, although the films were deposited at high temperature. The film composition is close to the ideal stoichiometric ratio. The valence band spectra of the PdLuBi films, observed by hard X-ray photoelectron s…
Epitaxial growth of single crystalline noble metals on dielectric substrates has received tremendous attention recently due to their technological potentials as low loss plasmonic materials. Currently there are two different growth approaches, each with its strengths and weaknesses. One adopts a sophisticated molecular beam epitaxial procedure to grow atomically smooth epitaxial Ag films. However, the procedure is rather slow and becomes impractical to grow films with thickness > 50 nm. Another approach adopts a growth process using rapid e-beam deposition which is capable of growing single cr…
The 71° stripe domain patterns of epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films are frequently being explored to achieve new functional properties, dissimilar from the BiFeO3 bulk properties. We show that in-plane switching and out-of-plane switching of these domains behave very differently. In the in-plane configuration the domains are very stable, whereas in the out-of-plane configuration the domains change their size and patterns, depending on the applied switching voltage frequency. This paper has been published in Phys. Status Solidi B (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/pssb.201248329)
Highly ordered Bi2FeMnO6 epitaxial thin films have been successfully grown on SrTiO3 substrate. Both synchrotron X-ray reciprocal space mapping and high resolution transmission electron microscopy confirmed the alternative alignment of Fe and Mn along [111] direction of Bi2FeMnO6 films. Magnetic and ferroelectric properties of Bi2FeMnO6 films are characterized and analyzed. The room-temperature ferroelectricity is well kept in Bi2FeMnO6 film as expected. However, it is very interesting that Bi2FeMnO6 film exhibits a typical spin-glass behavior and very weak magnetism rather than a ferri/ferrom…
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 have investigated the effect of epitaxial strain on the magnetic properties and $B$-site cation ordering in multiferroic Bi$_2$FeCrO$_6$ (001) thin films using a density-functional theory approach. We find that in thin films with rock-salt ordering of Fe and Cr the ground state is characterised by C-type anti-ferromagnetic (AFM) order. This is in contrast to the bulk form of the material which was predicted to be a ferrimagnet with G-type AFM order. Furthermore, the cation ordered thin-films undergo a transition with epitaxial strain from C to A-type AFM order. Other magnetic orders appear …
We report on domain formation and magnetization reversal in epitaxial Fe films on ferroelectric BaTiO3 substrates with ferroelastic a-c stripe domains. The Fe films exhibit biaxial magnetic anisotropy on top of c domains with out-of-plane polarization, whereas the in-plane lattice elongation of a domains induces uniaxial magnetoelastic anisotropy via inverse magnetostriction. The strong modulation of magnetic anisotropy symmetry results in full imprinting of the a-c domain pattern in the Fe films. Exchange and magnetostatic interactions between neighboring magnetic stripes further influence ma…
