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Title: Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films

Abstract

Low-damping magnetic oxide thin films with small thicknesses are essential for efficient insulator spintronic devices, particularly those driven by spin torque effects. Here, we investigate the depth-resolved compositional and magnetic properties of epitaxial spinel MgAl0.5Fe1.5O4 (MAFO), which has recently been reported as a promising low-damping insulator. We find that ≈11nm films exhibit optimal Gilbert damping, with a typical damping parameter of 0.001. While defects due to strain relaxation in the bulk of the film contribute to increased damping for large film thickness, the damping increase in thinner films is attributed to the presence of a chemically disordered magnetic dead layer at the film/substrate interface. This interfacial dead layer arises from an Fe-deficient MAFO layer. Notably, this layer is only about one-sixth the thickness of that found at the interface between yttrium iron garnet films and gadolinium gallium garnet substrates, making MAFO an ideal thin-film insulator for spin-torque applications.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [3];  [4];  [4];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
  2. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
  3. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geballe Lab. for Advanced Materials
  4. Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)
  5. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
OSTI Identifier:
1611065
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1566175
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0008505; N00014-15-1-0045
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Applied Physics Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 115; Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-6951
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; physics; low loss; spin current; oxide films

Citation Formats

Wisser, Jacob J., Emori, Satoru, Riddiford, Lauren, Altman, Aaron, Li, Peng, Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy, Urwin, Brittany T., Howe, Brandon M., Page, Michael R., Grutter, Alexander J., Kirby, Brian J., and Suzuki, Yuri. Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1063/1.5111326.
Wisser, Jacob J., Emori, Satoru, Riddiford, Lauren, Altman, Aaron, Li, Peng, Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy, Urwin, Brittany T., Howe, Brandon M., Page, Michael R., Grutter, Alexander J., Kirby, Brian J., & Suzuki, Yuri. Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films. United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5111326
Wisser, Jacob J., Emori, Satoru, Riddiford, Lauren, Altman, Aaron, Li, Peng, Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy, Urwin, Brittany T., Howe, Brandon M., Page, Michael R., Grutter, Alexander J., Kirby, Brian J., and Suzuki, Yuri. Tue . "Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films". United States. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5111326. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1611065.
@article{osti_1611065,
title = {Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films},
author = {Wisser, Jacob J. and Emori, Satoru and Riddiford, Lauren and Altman, Aaron and Li, Peng and Mahalingam, Krishnamurthy and Urwin, Brittany T. and Howe, Brandon M. and Page, Michael R. and Grutter, Alexander J. and Kirby, Brian J. and Suzuki, Yuri},
abstractNote = {Low-damping magnetic oxide thin films with small thicknesses are essential for efficient insulator spintronic devices, particularly those driven by spin torque effects. Here, we investigate the depth-resolved compositional and magnetic properties of epitaxial spinel MgAl0.5Fe1.5O4 (MAFO), which has recently been reported as a promising low-damping insulator. We find that ≈11nm films exhibit optimal Gilbert damping, with a typical damping parameter of 0.001. While defects due to strain relaxation in the bulk of the film contribute to increased damping for large film thickness, the damping increase in thinner films is attributed to the presence of a chemically disordered magnetic dead layer at the film/substrate interface. This interfacial dead layer arises from an Fe-deficient MAFO layer. Notably, this layer is only about one-sixth the thickness of that found at the interface between yttrium iron garnet films and gadolinium gallium garnet substrates, making MAFO an ideal thin-film insulator for spin-torque applications.},
doi = {10.1063/1.5111326},
journal = {Applied Physics Letters},
number = 13,
volume = 115,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Tue Sep 24 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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