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Abstract This work focuses on the nature of magnetic anisotropy in 2.5–16 micron thick films of nickel ferrite (NFO) grown by liquid phase epitaxy (LPE). The technique, ideal for rapid growth of epitaxial oxide films, was utilized for films on (100) and (110) substrates of magnesium gallate (MGO). The motivation was to investigate the dependence of the growth induced anisotropy field on film thickness since submicron films of NFO were reported to show a very high anisotropy. The films grown at 850–875 C and subsequently annealed at 1000 C were found to be epitaxial, with the out-of-plane lattice constant showing unanticipated decrease with increasing film thickness and the estimated in-plane lattice constant increasing with the film thickness. The uniaxial anisotropy field H σ , estimated from X-ray diffraction data, ranged from 2.8–7.7 kOe with the films on (100) MGO having a higher H σ value than for the films on (110) MGO. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements for in-plane and out-of-plane static magnetic field were utilized to determine both the magnetocrystalline the anisotropy field H 4 and the uniaxial anisotropy field H a . Values of H 4 range from −0.24 to −0.86 kOe. The uniaxial anisotropy field H a was an order of magnitude smaller than H σ and it decreased with increasing film thickness for NFO films on (100) MGO, but H a increased with film thickness for films on (110) MGO substrates. These observations indicate that the origin of the induced anisotropy could be attributed to several factors including (i) strain due to mismatch in the film-substrate lattice constants, (ii) possible variations in the bond lengths and bond angles in NFO during the growth process, and (iii) the strain arising from mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficients of the film and the substrate due to the high growth and annealing temperatures involved in the LPE technique. The LPE films of NFO on MGO substrates studied in this work are of interest for use in high frequency devices.
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On efficient asymptotic modelling of thin films on thermally conductive substrates
We consider a free-surface thin film placed on a thermally conductive substrate and exposed to an external heat source in a set-up where the heat absorption depends on the local film thickness. Our focus is on modelling film evolution while the film is molten. The evolution of the film modifies local heat flow, which in turn may influence the film surface evolution through thermal variation of the film's material properties. Thermal conductivity of the substrate plays an important role in determining the heat flow and the temperature field in the evolving film and in the substrate itself. In order to reach a tractable formulation, we use asymptotic analysis to develop a novel thermal model that is accurate, computationally efficient, and that accounts for the heat flow in both the in-plane and out-of-plane directions. We apply this model to metal films of nanoscale thickness exposed to heating and melting by laser pulses, a set-up commonly used for self and directed assembly of various metal geometries via dewetting while the films are in the liquid phase. We find that thermal effects play an important role, and in particular that the inclusion of temperature dependence in the metal viscosity modifies the time scale of the evolution significantly. On the other hand, in the considered set-up the Marangoni (thermocapillary) effect turns out to be insignificant.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1815613
- PAR ID:
- 10351671
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Fluid Mechanics
- Volume:
- 915
- ISSN:
- 0022-1120
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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This report is on the nature of strain in thin films of yttrium iron garnet (YIG) on yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) substrates due to film-substrate lattice mismatch and the resulting induced magnetic anisotropy. Films with thickness 55 nm to 380 nm were deposited on (100), (110), and (111) YAG substrates using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) techniques and characterized by structural and magnetic characterization techniques. The in-plane strain determined to be compressive using X-ray diffraction (XRD). It varied from −0.12% to −0.98% and increased in magnitude with increasing film thickness and was relatively large in films on (100) YAG. The out-of-plane strain was tensile and also increased with increasing film thickness. The estimated strain-induced magnetic anisotropy field, found from XRD data, was out of plane; its value increased with film thickness and ranged from 0.47 kOe to 3.96 kOe. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements at 5 to 21 GHz also revealed the presence of a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy that decreased with increasing film thickness and its values were smaller than values obtained from XRD data. The PLD YIG films on YAG substrates exhibiting a perpendicular anisotropy field have the potential for use in self-biased sensors and high-frequency devices.more » « less
- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1017/jfm.2021.157
