Ultrathin interfacial layer with suppressed room temperature magnetization in magnesium aluminum ferrite thin films
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Geballe Lab. for Advanced Materials
- Air Force Research Lab. (AFRL), Wright-Patterson AFB, OH (United States)
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research
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.
- Research Organization:
- Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- 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
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0008505; N00014-15-1-0045
- OSTI ID:
- 1611065
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1566175
- Journal Information:
- Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 13; ISSN 0003-6951
- Publisher:
- American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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