Improving thermostability of CrO{sub 2} thin films by doping with Sn

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4894540· OSTI ID:22311021

Ding, Yi; Wang, Ziyu; Liu, Shuo; Shi, Jing; Yin, Di ^[1]; Yuan, Cheng; Lu, Zhihong ^[2]; Xiong, Rui ^[1]

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1. Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China)
2. School of Materials and Metallurgy, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430081 (China)

Chromium dioxide (CrO{sub 2}) is an ideal material for spin electronic devices since it has almost 100% spin polarization near Fermi level. However, it is thermally unstable and easily decomposes to Cr{sub 2}O{sub 3} even at room temperature. In this study, we try to improve the thermal stability of CrO{sub 2} thin films by doping with Sn whose oxide has the same structure as CrO{sub 2}. High quality epitaxial CrO{sub 2} and Sn-doped CrO{sub 2} films were grown on single crystalline TiO{sub 2} (100) substrates by chemical vapor deposition. Sn{sup 4+} ions were believed to be doped into CrO{sub 2} lattice and take the lattice positions of Cr{sup 4+}. The magnetic measurements show that Sn-doping leads to a decrease of magnetocrystalline anisotropy. The thermal stabilities of the films were evaluated by annealing the films at different temperatures. Sn-doped films can withstand a temperature up to 510 °C, significantly higher than what undoped films can do (lower than 435 °C), which suggests that Sn-doping indeed enhances the thermal stability of CrO{sub 2} films. Our study also indicates that Sn-doping may not change the essential half metallic properties of CrO{sub 2}. Therefore, Sn-doped CrO{sub 2} is expected to be very promising for applications in spintronic devices.

• OSTI ID: 22311021
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 105, Issue 9; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANISOTROPY
CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION
CHROMIUM IONS
CHROMIUM OXIDES
DOPED MATERIALS
ELECTRONIC EQUIPMENT
EPITAXY
FERMI LEVEL
HEAT TREATMENTS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MONOCRYSTALS
SPIN
SPIN ORIENTATION
STABILITY
SUBSTRATES
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS
TIN ADDITIONS
TITANIUM OXIDES