Evidence for strain control of magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial nickel ferrite thin films grown on strontium titanate substrates. (June 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Ying; Mei, Zhiheng; Guo, Yizhong; Zhou, Peng; Qi, Yajun; Liang, Kun; Ma, Zhijun; Xia, Zhengcai; Adhikary, Amitava; Dong, Cunzheng; Sun, NianXiang; Srinivasan, Gopalan; Zhang, Tianjin
• Is Part Of: Materials research bulletin. Volume 138(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Subjects: Strain -- Nickel ferrite -- Uniaxial anisotropy field; Materials -- Periodicals; Crystal growth -- Periodicals; Matériaux -- Périodiques; Cristaux -- Croissance -- Périodiques; Crystal growth; Materials; Periodicals; 620.11
• DOI: 10.1016/j.materresbull.2021.111214
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0025-5408

Abstract

Graphical abstract: Highlights: Strain control of magnetic anisotropy in nickel ferrite thin films deposited on high lattice mismatched strontium titanate substrates. Strong dependence of growth induced perpendicular uniaxial anisotropy on substrate orientation is inferred. The investigate of magnetic anisotropy have the potential use in spintronics and self-biased microwave signal processing devices. Abstract: This report is on strain control of magnetic order parameters in 50 nm epitaxial NiFe2 O4 (NFO) films grown on (001), (110), and (111) SrTiO3 (STO) single-crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The related in-plane strains for NFO films on (001), (110), and (111) STO substrates are found to be ―1.36 %, 1.35 %, and 1.52 %, respectively, where the lattice mismatch between film and substrate is as high as 6.7 %. Our analysis of magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance on all the NFO films reveals the presence of a uniaxial anisotropy field, which is perpendicular to the film plane. The anisotropy field decreases with the increase of strain in NFO films. Specifically, NFO films on STO (111) and STO (001) have the lowest and highest uniaxial anisotropy fileds of 1.4 kOe and 6.1 kOe, respectively. These experimental values of anisotropy field are a factor of 5–10 times smaller than those of the calculated ones due to the film defects induced by the high lattice mismatch. The studies of magnetic anisotropy of spinel ferrite films are of interest for spintronics and microwave devices.