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Integrating patterned, low-loss magnetic materials into microwave devices and circuits presents many challenges due to the specific conditions that are required to grow ferrite materials, driving the need for flip-chip and other indirect fabrication techniques. The low-loss (α = (3.98 ± 0.22) × 10−5), room-temperature ferrimagnetic coordination compound vanadium tetracyanoethylene (V[TCNE]x) is a promising new material for these applications that is potentially compatible with semiconductor processing. Here, we present the deposition, patterning, and characterization of V[TCNE]x thin films with lateral dimensions ranging from 1 μm to several millimeters. We employ electron-beam lithography and liftoff using an aluminum encapsulated poly(methyl methacrylate), poly(methyl methacrylate-methacrylic acid) copolymer bilayer [PMMA/P(MMA-MAA)] on sapphire and silicon. This process can be trivially extended to other common semiconductor substrates. Films patterned via this method maintain low-loss characteristics down to 25 μm with only a factor of 2 increase down to 5 μm. A rich structure of thickness and radially confined spin-wave modes reveals the quality of the patterned films. Further fitting, simulation, and analytic analysis provide an exchange stiffness, Aex = (2.2 ± 0.5) × 10−10erg/cm, as well as insights into the mode character and surface-spin pinning. Below a micron, the deposition is nonconformal, which leads to interesting and potentially useful changes in morphology. This work establishes the versatility of V[TCNE]x for applications requiring highly coherent magnetic excitations ranging from microwave communication to quantum information.
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In situ electric-field control of ferromagnetic resonance in the low-loss organic-based ferrimagnet V[TCNE] x ∼2
We demonstrate indirect electric-field control of ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) in devices that integrate the low-loss, molecule-based, room-temperature ferrimagnet vanadium tetracyanoethylene (V[TCNE]x∼2) mechanically coupled to PMN-PT piezoelectric transducers. Upon straining the V[TCNE]x films, the FMR frequency is tuned by more than 6 times the resonant linewidth with no change in Gilbert damping for samples with α = 6.5 × 10−5. We show this tuning effect is due to a strain-dependent magnetic anisotropy in the films and find the magnetoelastic coefficient |λs| ∼ (1–4.4) ppm, backed by theoretical predictions from density-functional theory calculations and magnetoelastic theory. Noting the rapidly expanding application space for strain-tuned FMR, we define a new metric for magnetostrictive materials, magnetostrictive agility, given by the ratio of the magnetoelastic coefficient to the FMR linewidth. This agility allows for a direct comparison between magnetostrictive materials in terms of their comparative efficacy for magnetoelectric applications requiring ultra-low loss magnetic resonance modulated by strain. With this metric, we show V[TCNE]x is competitive with other magnetostrictive materials, including YIG and Terfenol-D. This combination of ultra-narrow linewidth and magnetostriction, in a system that can be directly integrated into functional devices without requiring heterogeneous integration in a thin film geometry, promises unprecedented functionality for electric-field tuned microwave devices ranging from low-power, compact filters and circulators to emerging applications in quantum information science and technology.
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- PAR ID:
- 10595150
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Institute of Physics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- APL Materials
- Volume:
- 12
- Issue:
- 5
- ISSN:
- 2166-532X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Abstract Spin waves, quantized as magnons, have low energy loss and magnetic damping, which are critical for devices based on spin‐wave propagation needed for information processing devices. The organic‐based magnet [V(TCNE)x; TCNE = tetracyanoethylene;x≈ 2] has shown an extremely low magnetic damping comparable to, for example, yttrium iron garnet (YIG). The excitation, detection, and utilization of coherent and non‐coherent spin waves on various modes in V(TCNE)xis demonstrated and show that the angular momentum carried by microwave‐excited coherent spin waves in a V(TCNE)xfilm can be transferred into an adjacent Pt layer via spin pumping and detected using the inverse spin Hall effect. The spin pumping efficiency can be tuned by choosing different excited spin wave modes in the V(TCNE)xfilm. In addition, it is shown that non‐coherent spin waves in a V(TCNE)xfilm, excited thermally via the spin Seebeck effect, can also be used as spin pumping source that generates an electrical signal in Pt with a sign change in accordance with the magnetization switching of the V(TCNE)x. Combining coherent and non‐coherent spin wave detection, the spin pumping efficiency can be thermally controlled, and new insight is gained for the spintronic applications of spin wave modes in organic‐based magnets.more » « less
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