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Abstract Ferrimagnetic iron garnets enable magnetic and magneto‐optical functionality in silicon photonics and electronics. However, garnets require high‐temperature processing for crystallization which can degrade other devices on the wafer. Here bismuth‐substituted yttrium and terbium iron garnet (Bi‐YIG and Bi‐TbIG) films are demonstrated with good magneto‐optical performance and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) crystallized by a microheater built on a Si chip or by rapid thermal annealing. The Bi‐TbIG film crystallizes on Si at 873 K without a seed layer and exhibits good magneto‐optical properties with Faraday rotation (FR) of −1700 deg cm−1. The Bi‐YIG film also crystallizes on Si and fused SiO2at 873 K without a seed layer. Rapidly cooled films exhibit PMA due to the tensile stress caused by the thermal expansion mismatch with the substrates, increasing the magnetoelastic anisotropy by 4 kJ m−3versus slow‐cooled films. Annealing in the air for 15 s using the microheater yields fully crystallized Bi‐TbIG on the Si chip.
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High Figure of Merit Magneto‐Optical Ce‐ and Bi‐Substituted Terbium Iron Garnet Films Integrated on Si
Abstract Films of polycrystalline terbium iron garnet (TbIG), cerium‐substituted TbIG (CeTbIG), and bismuth‐substituted TbIG (BiTbIG) are grown on Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The films grow under tensile strain due to thermal mismatch with the Si substrate, resulting in a dominant magnetoelastic anisotropy which, combined with shape anisotropy, leads to in‐plane magnetization. TbIG has a compensation temperature of 253 K which is reduced by substitution of Ce and Bi. The Faraday rotation at 1550 nm of the TbIG, Ce0.36TbIG, and Bi0.03TbIG films is 5400 ± 600° cm−1, 4500 ± 100° cm–1, and 6200 ± 300° cm−1, respectively, while Ce0.36TbIG and Bi0.03TbIG exhibit lower optical absorption than TbIG, attributed to a reduction in Fe2+and Tb4+absorption pathways. The high Faraday rotation of the films, and in particular the high magneto‐optical figure of merit of the Bi0.03TbIG of 720° dB−1at 1550 nm, make these polycrystalline films valuable for applications in integrated photonics.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2028199
- PAR ID:
- 10366567
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Optical Materials
- Volume:
- 9
- Issue:
- 16
- ISSN:
- 2195-1071
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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