B20-MnSi films grown on Si(100) substrates with magnetic skyrmion signature

Abstract

Magnetic skyrmions have been suggested as information carriers for future spintronic devices. As the first material with experimentally confirmed skyrmions, B20-type MnSi was the research focus for decades. Although B20-MnSi films have been successfully grown on Si(111) substrates, there is no report about B20-MnSi films on Si(100) substrates, which would be more preferred for practical applications. In this letter, we present the first preparation of B20-MnSi on Si(100) substrates. It is realized by sub-second solid-state reaction between Mn and Si via flash-lamp annealing at ambient pressure. The regrown layer shows an enhanced Curie temperature of 43 K compared with bulk B20-MnSi. The magnetic skyrmion signature is proved in our films by magnetic and transport measurements. The millisecond-range flash annealing provides a promising avenue for the fabrication of Si-based skyrmionic devices.

17 pages, accepted at Materials Today Physics

References in corpus (5)

• Advances in the Physics of Magnetic Skyrmions and Perspective for Technology
• Robust formation of skyrmions and topological Hall effect in epitaxial thin films of MnSi
• Extended elliptic skyrmion gratings in epitaxial MnSi thin films
• Neutron study of in-plane skyrmions in MnSi thin films
• Effect of Negative Pressure on the Prototypical Itinerant Magnet MnSi