High-quality thulium iron garnet films with tunable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by off-axis sputtering - correlation between magnetic properties and film strain.

ABSTRACT: Thulium iron garnet (TmIG) films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) were grown on gadolinium gallium garnet (GGG) (111) substrates by off-axis sputtering. High-resolution synchrotron radiation X-ray diffraction studies and spherical aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (Cs-corrected STEM) images showed the excellent crystallinity of the films and their sharp interface with GGG. Damping constant of TmIG thin film was determined to be 0.0133 by frequency-dependent ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. The saturation magnetization (M_s) and the coercive field (H_c) were obtained systematically as a function of the longitudinal distance (L) between the sputtering target and the substrate. A 170% enhancement of PMA field (H_?) was achieved by tuning the film composition to increase the tensile strain. Moreover, current-induced magnetization switching on a Pt/TmIG structure was demonstrated with an ultra-low critical current density (j_c) of 2.5?×?10⁶?A/cm², an order of magnitude smaller than the previously reported value. We were able to tune M_s, H_c and H_? to obtain an ultra-low j_c of switching the magnetization, showing the great potential of sputtered TmIG films for spintronics.

SUBMITTER: Wu CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6056423 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature