B. Mercey

Oxide-diluted magnetic semiconductors: a review of the experimental status

Oxide-diluted magnetic semiconductors (O-DMS) have attracted a great deal of interest in recent years due to the possibility of inducing room temperature ferromagnetism. These materials are of particular interest for spintronic devices such as spin valves. This review describes the experimental status of the O-DMS including the recent results on ZnO- and TiO2-based systems.

Colossal-magnetoresistive manganite thin films

Mixed-valence perovskite manganites (Re1-xAxMnO3 where Re = rare earth, A = alkaline earth) provide a unique opportunity to study the relationships between the structure and the magnetotransport properties due to an interplay among charge carriers, magnetic coupling, orbital ordering and structural distortion. This makes these compounds very exciting from both the basic research and from the technological viewpoint. As the technology pursued with these materials requires film growth, extensive studies have been made on materials synthesis, structural and physical characterization and device fabrication. In this article, the results from the different experimental techniques and the effects of the deposition procedure of the manganite thin films are first reviewed. Second, the relation between the structural and the physical properties is mentioned, and the influence of strains discussed. Finally, possible applications of manganite thin films in spin electronics are presented.

Laser ablation of Co:ZnO films deposited from Zn and Co metal targets on (0001) Al2O3 substrates

We report on the synthesis of high-quality Co-doped ZnO thin films using the pulsed laser deposition technique on (0001)-Al2O3 substrates performed in an oxidizing atmosphere, using Zn and Co metallic targets. We first optimized the growth of ZnO in order to obtain the less strained film. Highly crystallized Co:ZnO thin films are obtained by an alternative deposition from Zn and Co metal targets. This procedure allows an homogenous repartition of the Co in the ZnO wurzite structure which is confirmed by the linear dependence of the out-of-plane lattice parameter as a function of the Co dopant. In the case of 5% Co doped, the film exhibits ferromagnetism with a Curie temperature close to the room temperature.

Microstructure and magnetic properties of strained La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

The lattice deformation of dense strained La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) films is shown to control the easy direction of the magnetization. Optimized pulsed laser deposited conditions allow the fabrication of dense LSMO thin films which present an exceptional flatness with a peak–valley roughness (Rp–v) of 1 A, associated to epitaxial grains as large as 1 μm. Electron microscopy coupled with x-ray diffraction have been used to study the unit cell distortion of both tensile and compressive dense LSMO films as a function of the thickness. No relaxation of the lattice distortion imposed by substrate has been observed in the thickness range 10–60 nm. The Curie temperature is not significantly affected by the nature of the substrate: a TC of 350 K is observed for both SrTiO3 (STO) and LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates, i.e., close to the bulk material (369 K). In contrast, the easy direction of magnetization depends on the substrate. For tensile films deposited on the STO substrate, the unit cell is elongated along the film’s pl...

Spectacular decrease of the melting magnetic field in the charge-ordered state of Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 films under tensile strain

An insulator to metal transition below 240K is induced by applying a 7T magnetic field in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 thin films grown by the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique on (100) SrTiO3 substrates. This value of the melting magnetic field, much lower that the one required in bulk (20T), is assumed to be an effect of the tensile stress. These results confirm the importance of the bandwidth in the control of the physical properties of this compound and open the route to get colossal magnetoresistive properties by using strain effects.

Spectacular decrease of the melting magnetic field in the charge-ordered state of tensile Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 films

An insulator to metal transition below 240K is induced by applying a 7T magnetic field in Pr0.5Ca0.5MnO3 thin films grown by the Pulsed Laser Deposition technique on (100) SrTiO3 substrates. This value of the melting magnetic field, much lower that the one required in bulk (20T), is assumed to be an effect of the tensile stress. These results confirm the importance of the bandwidth in the control of the physical properties of this compound and open the route to get colossal magnetoresistive properties by using strain effects.

Low propagation losses of an Er:Y2O3 planar waveguide grown by alternate-target pulsed laser deposition

We report on waveguiding properties in epitaxial Er:Y2O3 films grown by pulsed-laser deposition on sapphire [0001] substrate. Characterization of the as-grown films by x-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and Rutherford backscattering revealed that the films were highly crystalline and textured along the [111] direction and possessed an average surface roughness of 2 nm for a 0.69-μm-thick film. The investigation of the emission spectra confirms the proper structural position for the Er3+ ions in the Y2O3 matrix and that the films guide optical waves along the entire length (5 mm) of the film yielding a propagation loss of <1 dB/cm at 800 nm.

Absence of long-range Ni/Mn ordering in ferromagnetic La2NiMnO6 thin films

Epitaxial La2NiMnO6 thin films have been grown on (001)-orientated SrTiO3 using the pulsed laser deposition technique. The thin film samples are semiconducting and ferromagnetic with a Curie temperature close to 270K, a coercive field of 920Oe, and a saturation magnetization of 4.85μB/formula unit. Transmission electron microscopy, conducted at room temperature, reveals a majority phase having an “I-centered” structure with a≈c≈asub2 and b≈2asub along with minority phase domains having a “P-type” structure (asub being the lattice parameter of the cubic perovskite structure). A discussion on the absence of Ni∕Mn long-range ordering, in light of recent literature on the ordered double-perovskite La2NiMnO6 is presented.

The role of ferroelectric-ferromagnetic layers on the properties of superlattice-based multiferroics

A series of superlattices and trilayers composed of ferromagnetic and ferroelectric or paraelectric layers were grown on (100) SrTiO3 by the pulsed-laser deposition technique. Their structural and magnetoelectric properties were examined. The superlattices made of ferromagnetic Pr0.85Ca0.15MnO3 (PCMO) and a ferroelectric, namely, Ba0.6Sr0.4TiO3 (BST) or BaTiO3, showed enhanced magnetoresistance (MR) at high applied magnetic field, whereas such enhancement was absent in Pr0.85Ca0.15MnO3∕SrTiO3 superlattices, which clearly demonstrates the preponderant role of the ferroelectric layers in this enhanced MR. Furthermore, the absence of enhanced MR in trilayers of PCMO∕BST indicates that the magnetoelectric coupling which is responsible for MR in these systems is stronger in multilayers than in their trilayer counterparts.

Large Increase of the Curie Temperature by Orbital Ordering Control

Using first principle calculations we showed that the Curie temperature of manganites thin films can be increased by far more than an order of magnitude by applying appropriate strains. Our main breakthrough is that the control of the orbital ordering responsible for the spectacular T{C} increase cannot be imposed by the substrate only. Indeed, the strains, first applied by the substrate, need to be maintained over the growth direction by the alternation of the manganite layers with another appropriate material. Following these theoretical findings, we synthesized such superlattices and verified our theoretical predictions.