Growth-Induced In-Plane Uniaxial Anisotropy in V${}_2$O${}_3$/Ni Films

Abstract

We report on a strain-induced and temperature dependent uniaxial anisotropy in V${}_2$O${}_3$/Ni hybrid thin films, manifested through the interfacial strain and sample microstructure, and its consequences on the angular dependent magnetization reversal. X-ray diffraction and reciprocal space maps identify the in-plane crystalline axes of the V${}_2$O${}_3$; atomic force and scanning electron microscopy reveal oriented rips in the film microstructure. Quasi-static magnetometry and dynamic ferromagnetic resonance measurements identify a uniaxial magnetic easy axis along the rips. Comparison with films grown on sapphire without rips shows a combined contribution from strain and microstructure in the V${}_2$O${}_3$/Ni films. Magnetization reversal characteristics captured by angular-dependent first order reversal curve measurements indicate a strong domain wall pinning along the direction orthogonal to the rips, inducing an angular-dependent change in the reversal mechanism. The resultant anisotropy is tunable with temperature and is most pronounced at room temperature, which is beneficial for potential device applications.

References in corpus (4)

• Strain-Engineering Anisotropic Electrical Conductance of Phosphorene and Few-Layer Black Phosphorus
• Probing the A1 to L10 Transformation in FeCuPt Using the First Order Reversal Curve Method
• Magnetic Yoking and Tunable Interactions in FePt-Based Hard/Soft Bilayers
• Accessing Different Spin-Disordered States using First Order Reversal Curves