Structural and magnetic properties of [001] CoCr2O4 thin films
The spinel CoCr2O4 (CCO) is one of the few bulk multiferroics with net magnetic moment. However, studies on the properties of CCO thin films are scarce. Here, we investigate the interplay between microstructure and magnetism of a series of CCO epitaxial thin films by means of x-ray diffraction, magn...
| Autores: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión publicada |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/158170 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/158170 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Crystal defects Magnetoelectric effect Multiferroics Magnetization measurements Scanning transmission electron microscopy X-ray diffraction |
| Sumario: | The spinel CoCr2O4 (CCO) is one of the few bulk multiferroics with net magnetic moment. However, studies on the properties of CCO thin films are scarce. Here, we investigate the interplay between microstructure and magnetism of a series of CCO epitaxial thin films by means of x-ray diffraction, magnetometry, and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). Optimum pristine CCO films can be grown on a substrate with spinel structure (MgAl2O4), despite the large lattice mismatch of ∼3%. On the contrary, a substrate with lower lattice mismatch (∼1%) but with the rock salt structure (MgO) favors the degradation of the CCO crystal quality by forming antiphase boundaries (APBs), drastically weakening the magnetization, in agreement with reports for other spinel films. Nevertheless, our results also show that the type and number of APBs can be tuned by changing the growth temperature to favor the ferromagnetic alignment between antiphase domains, giving rise to a partial recovery of the magnetization. |
|---|