Marin Alexe

Multiferroic Iron Oxide Thin Films at Room Temperature

Multiferroic behaviour at room temperature is demonstrated in ε-Fe2 O3 . The simple composition of this new ferromagnetic ferroelectric oxide and the discovery of a robust path for its thin film growth by using suitable seed layers may boost the exploitation of ε-Fe2 O3 in novel devices.

Photovoltaics with Ferroelectrics: Current Status and Beyond.

Ferroelectrics carry a switchable spontaneous electric polarization. This polarization is usually coupled to strain, making ferroelectrics good piezoelectrics. When coupled to magnetism, they become so-called multiferroic systems, a field that has been widely investigated since 2003. While ferroelectrics are birefringent and non-linear optically transparent materials, the coupling of polarization with optical properties has received, since 2009, renewed attention, triggered notably by low-bandgap ferroelectrics suitable for sunlight spectrum absorption and original photovoltaic effects. Consequently, power conversion efficiencies up to 8.1% were recently achieved and values of 19.5% were predicted, making photoferroelectrics promising photovoltaic alternatives. This article aims at providing an up-to-date review on this emerging and rapidly progressing field by highlighting several important issues and parameters, such as the role of domain walls, ways to tune the bandgap, consequences arising from the polarization switchability, and the role of defects and contact electrodes, as well as the downscaling effects. Beyond photovoltaicity, other polarization-related processes are also described, like light-induced deformation (photostriction) or light-assisted chemical reaction (photostriction). It is hoped that this overview will encourage further avenues to be explored and challenged and, as a byproduct, will inspire other research communities in material science, e.g., so-called hybrid halide perovskites.

Nucleation-Induced Self-Assembly of Multiferroic BiFeO3-CoFe2O4 Nanocomposites

Large areas of perfectly ordered magnetic CoFe2O4 nanopillars embedded in a ferroelectric BiFeO3 matrix were successfully fabricated via a novel nucleation-induced self-assembly process. The nucleation centers of the magnetic pillars are induced before the growth of the composite structure using anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) and lithography-defined gold membranes as hard mask. High structural quality and good functional properties were obtained. Magneto-capacitance data revealed extremely low losses and magneto-electric coupling of about 0.9 μC/cmOe. The present fabrication process might be relevant for inducing ordering in systems based on phase separation, as the nucleation and growth is a rather general feature of these systems.

Spintronic functionality of BiFeO3 domain walls.

Anisotropic magnetoresistance at the BiFeO3 domain walls has been observed thanks to the realization of micro-devices that allow the direct magneto-transport characterization of the domain-walls. Anisotropic magnetoresistance of ferromagnetic metals has been a pillar in spintronic technology, and now it is evidenced at the conductive domain walls of an insulating ferroelectric material, which implies that domain walls become an electrically tunable nanospintronic object.

The Nature of Magnetoelectric Coupling in Pb(Zr,Ti)O3–Pb(Fe,Ta)O3

The coupling between magnetization and polarization in a room temperature multiferroic (Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 -Pb(Fe,Ta)O3 ) is explored by monitoring the changes in capacitance that occur when a magnetic field is applied in each of three orthogonal directions. Magnetocapacitance effects, consistent with P(2) M(2) coupling, are strongest when fields are applied in the plane of the single crystal sheet investigated.

Optical properties of epitaxial BiFeO3 thin films grown on LaAlO3

Highly strained and nearly pseudomorphic BiFeO3 epitaxial films were deposited on LaAlO3 and TbScO3 substrates, respectively. The symmetry of the tetragonal-like BiFeO3 films is discussed based on polarisation dependent Raman measurements and on the comparison with Raman spectra measured for rhombohedral films deposited on TbScO3. The evaluation of ellipsometric spectra reveals that the films deposited on LaAlO3 are optically less dense and the features in complex dielectric function are blue-shifted by 0.3u2009eV as compared to the rhombohedral films. Optical bandgaps of 3.10u2009eV and 2.80u2009eV were determined for the films deposited on LaAlO3 and TbScO3, respectively. The shift in the optical bandgap and dielectric function is nearly preserved also for thicker films, which indicates that the compressive strain is retained even in films with thicknesses above 100u2009nm as was confirmed also by XRD investigations.

Crossover of conduction mechanism in Sr2IrO4 epitaxial thin films

High quality epitaxial Sr2IrO4 thin films with various thicknesses (9–300u2009nm) have been grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrates and their electric transport properties have been investigated. All samples showed the expected insulating behavior with a strong resistivity dependence on film thickness, which can be as large as three orders of magnitude at low temperature. A close examination of the transport data revealed interesting crossover behaviors for the conduction mechanism upon variation of thickness and temperature. While Mott variable range hopping (VRH) dominated the transport for films thinner than 85u2009nm, high temperature (>200u2009K) thermal activation behavior was observed for films with large thickness (≥85u2009nm), which was followed by a crossover from Mott to Efros-Shklovskii (ES) VRH in the low temperature range. This low temperature crossover from Mott to ES VRH indicates the presence of a Coulomb gap (∼3u2009meV). Our results demonstrate the competing and tunable conduction in Sr2IrO4 thin films, which in turn would be helpful for understanding the insulating nature related to strong spin-orbital-coupling of the 5d iridates.

Electronic transport in (La,Sr)MnO3-ferroelectric-(La,Sr)MnO3 epitaxial structures

The leakage current in all oxide epitaxial (La,Sr)MnO3-ferroelectric-(La,Sr)MnO3 structures, where the ferroelectric layer is either BaTiO3 or Pb(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3, was analyzed on a broad range of temperatures and for different thicknesses of the ferroelectric layer. It was found that, although the structures are nominally symmetric, the current-voltage (I–V) characteristics are asymmetric. The leakage current depends strongly on the thicknesses of the ferroelectric layer, on temperature and on the polarity of the applied voltage. Simple conduction mechanisms such as space charge limited currents or thermionic emission cannot explain in the same time the voltage, temperature, and thickness dependence of the experimentally measured leakage currents. A combination between interface limited charge injection and bulk controlled drift-diffusion (through hopping in the case of BTO and through band mobility in the case of PZT) is qualitatively explaining the experimental I–V characteristics.

Bulk photovoltaic effect in monodomain BiFeO3 thin films

The bulk photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric semiconductors is increasingly being studied for potential applications in solar energy harvesting thanks to their unique charge separation mechanism and the resultant anomalous photovoltage. However, the intrinsic properties regarding the temperature dependence of photovoltaic current and its correlation with the ferroelectric polarization in such systems still require proper understanding. Here, by studying monodomain BiFeO3 thin films with only a single ferroelectric variant, we demonstrate that the photovoltaic current of BiFeO3 ferroelectric semiconductors possesses a preferred direction depending on the light polarization direction and working temperature, which is not along the ferroelectric polarization direction. The results indicate that the bulk photovoltaic effect originates from non-centrosymmetry of ferroelectric semiconductors but is independent of the ferroelectric polarization. Moreover, we showed that the bulk photovoltaic effect can be tailo...

Microstructure and properties of epitaxial Sr 2 FeMoO 6 films containing SrMoO 4 precipitates

Thin films of Sr2FeMoO6 (SFMO) were grown by pulsed laser deposition in non-optimized argon ambient pressures. The films were found to contain a high number of precipitates of foreign phases. The nature and microstructure of these phases were investigated in detail by high-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). We found out that the dominant foreign phase embedded in the SFMO film matrix was SrMoO4 (SMO). Through STEM and XRD analysis, we determined that the SMO phase grows epitaxially with respect to the surrounding SFMO matrix and has a fairly good crystallinity. Although the SFMO films include many foreign precipitates, they still exhibit good conducting properties and moderate magnetization values. Tuning the growth of the SMO phase on top of SFMO films to obtain a natural tunnel barrier might pave the way for future applications of SFMO in spintronic devices.