Substrate-driven structural coherence in epitaxial hematite thin films for spintronics

In this work, we report the successful growth of high-quality epitaxial hematite ( -Fe O ) thin films on three different substrates: (0001)-oriented sapphire, and (111)-oriented perovskite-structured SrTiO and LaAlO . Structural characterization confirms epitaxial growth with a (0001) out-of-plane o...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Toda Casaban, Meritxell, Balcells, Lluis, Mestres, Narcís, Pomar, Alberto, Chen, Hui, Garzón Manjón, Alba, Arbiol, Jordi, Martínez Perea, Benjamín, Frontera, Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/404830
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/404830
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Oxide heterostructures
Epitaxial thin films
Structural coherence
Hematite thin films
Antiferromagnetic spintronics
Descripción
Sumario:In this work, we report the successful growth of high-quality epitaxial hematite ( -Fe O ) thin films on three different substrates: (0001)-oriented sapphire, and (111)-oriented perovskite-structured SrTiO and LaAlO . Structural characterization confirms epitaxial growth with a (0001) out-of-plane orientation across all substrates. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction reveals that the films are highly relaxed, exhibiting systematic in-plane lattice variations driven by substrate-induced strain. Notably, films grown on perovskite substrates display enhanced in-plane crystal coherence compared to those on isostructural sapphire, indicating superior structural quality. These findings demonstrate the potential for seamless integration of hematite with perovskite oxides, enabling the development of high-quality oxide heterostructures for spintronic applications.