Study of nanocrystalline Fe－Al－N soft magnetic thin films

Fe－Al－N films were fabricated by reactive sputtering using a radio-frequency magnetron sputtering system. The effects of Al and N content and annealing temperature on microstructure and magnetic properties were investigated. The Fe－Al－N films, which have good soft magnetic properties, consist of nanocrystalline α-Fe grains and a small amount of other phases in the boundaries of α-Fe grains. The average α-Fe grain size is about 10－15nm. A slight amount of Fe－N and Al－N compounds precipitate in the boundaries of α-Fe grains and suppress their growth. Annealing improves the soft magnetic properties slightly by releasing the residual stress and reducing defects.     

Fabrication and Characterization of Ni Thin Films Using Direct-Current Magnetron Sputtering

Ni films are deposited by using ultra high vacuum dc magnetron sputtering onto silicon substrates at room temperature, and the high-quality and high-density films are prepared. The parameters, such as thickness, density and surface roughness, are obtained by using small-angle x-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses with the Marquardt gradient-expansion algorithm. The deposition rate is calculated and the Ni single layer can be fabricated precisely. Based on the fitting results, we can find that the surface roughness of the Ni films is about 0.7nm, the densities of Ni films are around 97% and the deposition rate is 0.26nm/s. The roughness of the surface is also characterized by using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The changing trend of the surface roughness in the simulation of XRD is in good agreement with the AFM measurement.     

Effect of Post-Annealing on Microstructural and Electrical Properties of N^＋Ion-Implanted into ZnO：In Films

We fabricate p-type conductive ZnO thin films on quartz glass substrates by codoping of In-N using radio frequency magnetron sputtering technique together with the direct implantation of acceptor dopants （nitrogen）. The effects of thermal annealing on the structure and electrical properties of the ZnO films are investigated by an x-ray diffractometer （XRD） and a Hall measurement system. It is found that the best p-type ZnO film subjected to annealed exhibits excellent electrical properties with a hole concentration of 1.22 × 10^18 cm^-3, a Hall mobility of 2.19 cm^2 V^-1 s^- 1, and a low resistivity of about 2.33 Ωcm, indicating that the presence of In may facilitates the incorporation of N into ZnO thin films.     

Effects of Annealing Temperature on Structural and Optical Properties of ZnO Thin Films

The effects of annealing temperature on the structural and optical properties of ZnO films grown on Si （100） substrates by sol-gel spin-coating are investigated. The structural and optical properties are characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and photoluminescence spectra. X-ray diffraction analysis shows the crystal quality of ZnO films becomes better after annealing at high temperature. The grain size increases with the temperature increasing. It is found that the tensile stress in the plane of ZnO films first increases and then decreases with the annealing temperature increasing, reaching the maximum value of 1.8 GPa at 700℃. PL spectra of ZnO films annealed at various temperatures consists of a near band edge emission around 380 nm and visible emissions due to the electronic defects, which are related to deep level emissions, such as oxide antisite （OZn）, interstitial oxygen （Oi）, interstitial zinc （Zni） and zinc vacancy （VZn^-）, which are generated during annealing process. The evolution of defects is analyzed by PL spectra based on the energy of the electronic transitions.     

Thermodynamic behaviour of Rashba quantum dot in the presence of magnetic field

The thermodynamic properties of an In Sb quantum dot have been investigated in the presence of Rashba spin–orbit interaction and a static magnetic field. The energy spectrum and wave-functions for the system are obtained by solving the Schrodinger wave-equation analytically. These energy levels are employed to calculate the specific heat, entropy,magnetization and susceptibility of the quantum dot system using canonical formalism. It is observed that the system is susceptible to maximum heat absorption at a particular value of magnetic field which depends on the Rashba coupling parameter as well as the temperature. The variation of specific heat shows a Schottky-like anomaly in the low temperature limit and rapidly converges to the value of 2kB with the further increase in temperature. The entropy of the quantum dot is found to be inversely proportional to the magnetic field but has a direct variation with temperature. The substantial effect of Rashba spin–orbit interaction on the magnetic properties of quantum dot is observed at low values of magnetic field and temperature.     

Magnetizations and magneto-transport properties of Ni-doped PrFe03 thin films

The present study reports the magnetizations and magneto-transport properties of PrFel_xNixO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser ablation technique on LaA103 snbstrates. From DC M/H plots of these films, weak ferromagnetism or ferrimagnetism behaviors are observed. With Ni substitution, reduction in saturation magnetization is also seen. With Ni doping, variations in saturation field （Hs）, coercive field （Hc）, Weiss temperature （0）, and effective magnetic moment （Pelf） are seen. A small change of magnetoresitance with application of higher field is observed. Various essential parameters like density of state （Nf） at Fermi level, Mott＇s characteristic temperature （To）, and activation energy （Ea） in the presence of and in the absence of magnetic field are calculated. The present observed magnetic properties are related to the change of Fe-O bond length （causing an overlap between the oxygen p orbital and iron d orbital） and the deviation of the Fe-O-Fe angle from 180~. Reduction of magnetic domain after Ni doping is also explored to explain the present observed magnetic behavior of the system. The influence of doping on various transport properties in these thin films indicates a distortion in the lattice structure and single particle band width, owing to stress-induced reduction in unit cell volume.     

X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism Measurement of Fe-Co Alloy Films Prepared by Electrodeposition

The macro- and micro-magnetic properties of Fe-Co alloy films eletrodeposited on CaAs（100） are studied by synchrotron radiation x-ray magnetic circular dichroism （XMCD） in combination with the magneto-optical Kerr effect （MOKE） measurements and magnetic force microscopy （MFM）. The orbital and spin magnetic moments of each element in the Fe-Co alloy are determined by the sum rules of XMCD. Element-specific hysteresis loops （ESHL） are obtained by recording the La MCD signals as a function of applied magnetic field. MOKE results reveal that the amorphous films are magnetically isotropic in the surface plane. The MFM image shows that the dimension of the magnetic domains is about 1-2 #m, which is much larger than that of the grains, indicating that there are intergranular correlations among these grains. Both ESHL and MOKE hysteresis loops indicate the strong ferromagnetic coupling of Fe and Co in the alloy films.     

Structural Characterization and Photoluminescent Properties of Zn1—xMgxO Films on Silicon

Zn1-xMgxO films have been grown on silicon at various substrate temperatures by pulsed laser deposition.The structural and photoluminescent properties of films as a function of substrate temperature have been studied.The optimized substrate temperature is 650℃.The x-ray diffraction spectra indicate that the films are highly C-axis oriented,and no phase separation is observed.The crystal grain size of the films is about 100nm as examined by atomic force microscopy.The cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy verified the C-axis orientation of the Zn1-xMgxO.Thesr films showed ultraviolet photoluminescence at room temperature.The near-band-edge emission peak of the Zn1-xMgxO film deposited at 600℃ has a blueshift (0.40eV) larger than that of the film deposited at 500℃ (0.33eV).The ratio of the near-band-edge to defect level peak intensity is as large as 159.     

Magnetotransport properties of La0.67Ca0.33MnO3//La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 bilayers

The perovskite bilayers La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 （LCMO） （100 nm） / La0.67Sr0.33MnO3（LSMO） （100 nm） and LSMO （100 nm） / LCMO （100 nm） are fabricated by a facing-target sputtering technique. Their transport and magnetic properties are investigated. It is found that the transport properties between them are different obviously due to distinguishable structures, and the different lattice strains in both films result in the difference of metal-to-insulator transition. Only single-step magnetization loop appears in our bilayers from 5K to 320K, and the coercive force of LSMO/LCMO varies irregularly with a minimum ～ 2387A/m which is lower than that of LCMO and LSMO single layer films. The behaviour is explained by some magnetic coupling.     

Effect of Temperature on Structural and Magnetic Properties of Laser Ablated Iron Oxide Deposited on Si（100）

We fabricate Fe3O4 thin films on Si（100） substrates at different temperatures using pulsed laser deposition, and study the effect of annealing and deposition temperature on the structural and magnetic properties of Fe3O4 thin films. Subsequently, the films are characterized by x-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and vibrating sample magnetometery （VSM）. The XRD results of these films confirm the presence of the Fe3O4 phase and show room-temperature ferromagnetism, as observed with VSM. We demonstrate the optimized deposition and annealing conditions for an enhanced magnetization of 854 emu/cm3 that is very high when compared to the bulk sample.     

La0.8Ca0.2MnO3/SrTiO3薄膜厚度对其结构及磁学性能的影响

采用多种X射线衍射技术和磁电阻测量技术研究了不同厚度的La_0.8Ca_0.2MnO₃/SrTiO₃ (LCMO/STO)薄膜的应变状态及其对磁电阻性能的影响.结果表明，在STO(001)单晶衬底上生长的LCMO薄膜沿［00l］取向生长.LCMO薄膜具有伪立方钙钛矿结构，随着薄膜厚度的增加，面内晶格参数增加，垂直于面内的晶格参数减小,晶格参数a和b相近，略小于c.LC 关键词： X射线衍射 微结构 应变 物理性能     

Preparation and study of silver added La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 film

La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ (LCMO) and Ag admixed La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ (Ag-LCMO) polycrystalline films have been prepared on SrTiO₃ single crystal (100) substrates by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis technique. These films are characterized using XRD, SEM, and temperature dependence of resistivity (ρ-T) and ac susceptibility (χ-T). The films are having cubic structure with lattice parameters as 3.890 and 3.885 Å for LCMO and Ag-LCMO films, respectively. The peek in ρ-T curve (T_p) and the ferromagnetic transition temperature (T_C) for the Ag-LCMO film is higher than that of LCMO film. The stability of both the films was tested by repeated measurements of its characteristics over a period of one week after several thermal cycling from room temperature to 77 K. In the LCMO film, the peak in the ρ-T curve (T_p) is found to shift towards lower value and conduction noise of the film increases in the subsequent measurements. In the case of Ag-LCMO the value of T_p, T_C and conduction noise of the film did not change even after several measurements. Silver segregating at the grain boundaries in Ag-LCMO polycrystalline film seems to be responsible for improving the characteristics of Ag-LCMO films.     

Influence of microstructures on exchange bias behaviors of La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/La0.33Ca0.67MnO3 bilayers

Ferromagnetic La_0.7Sr_0.3MnO₃ (LSMO) and antiferromagnetic La_0.33Ca_0.67MnO₃ (LCMO) layers were grown on SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates by the pulsed laser deposition technique. LSMO films had rougher surfaces and larger grain sizes than LCMO films. Fully strained bilayers, in which each layer was as thin as 10 nm, were prepared by changing their stacking sequences, i.e. LSMO/LCMO/STO and LCMO/LSMO/STO. The former had higher T_C (350 K) than the latter (300 K), and exchange bias effects were only observed in the former bilayers. This revealed that microstructures could play an important role in the transport and magnetic properties of manganese oxide thin films.     

Electrical transport and magnetic properties of La2/3Ca1/3MnO3/SiO2 composites

The influence of SiO₂ on the electrical transport properties of LCMO/SiO₂ composites with different SiO₂ contents x is investigated, where LCMO represents La_2/3Ca_1/3MnO₃. Results show that the SiO₂ phase not only shifts the metal–insulator transition temperature (T_p) to a high temperature range, but also has an effect on the magnetoresistance (MR) of the composites. The temperature dependence of resistivity indicates that the T_p of the composites is obviously higher than that of pure LCMO, and that the peak resistivity ρ_max of the composites is lower than that of pure LCMO. In the SiO₂ content x∼0.02, the T_P is the highest and ρ_max becomes the lowest. The experimental observation is discussed on the basis of the analysis of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Compared with pure LCMO, a possible interpretation is presented by considering the influence of SiO₂ on the coupling between ferromagnetic (FM) domains of LCMO.     

二元掺杂镧锰氧化物La-Ca-Ba-Mn-O的庞磁电阻特性

用固相反应法制备了二元掺杂的镧锰氧化物La_0.67(Ca_0.6Ba_0.4)_0.33MnO_z(LCBMO)立方多晶体材料,研究了其磁特性和庞磁电阻特性,并与用类似方法制备的一元掺杂的La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO_z(LCMO)及La_0.67Ba_0.33MnO_z(LBMO)的庞磁电阻特性进行了比较.研究表明,LCBMO的居里温度T_C为312K,介于LCMO和LBMO的T_C（分别为280,362K）之间,其金属-半导体转变温度T_p和μ₀H=0.6T下的磁电阻（MR）峰值温度T_m分别为306,298K,接近于其T_C,也介于LCMO和LBMO的T_p和T_m之间.μ₀H=0.6T下,在各自的T_m处,LCMO,LCBMO和LBMO的庞磁电阻值分别达到41%,24.7%和8%,但在室温（300K）处,LCBMO的MR值仍达到20％,远大于LCMO和LBMO的值（分别为2.0％和2.4％）.研究还发现,在温度远低于T_m时,LCMO仍保持一定的磁电阻效应,而LCBMO和LBMO的磁电阻温度降低而增加,这些低温磁电阻特性与材料的结构特征（如晶界和致密度）有关. 关键词：     

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects in Tb6Co1.67Si3 compound

Magnetic properties and magnetocaloric effects of Tb₆Co_1.67Si₃ have been investigated by magnetization measurement. This compound is of a hexagonal Ce$_{6}$Ni$_{2}$Si$_{3}$-type structure with a saturation magnetization of 187\,emu/g at 5\,K and a reversible second-order magnetic transition at Curie temperature $T_{\rm C} = 186$\,K. A magnetic entropy change $\Delta S = 7$\,J\,$\cdot$\,kg$^{-1}$\,$\cdot$\,K$^{-1}$ is observed for a magnetic field change from 0 to 5\,T. A large value of refrigerant capacity (RC) is found to be 330\,J/kg for fields ranging from 0 to 5\,T. The large RC, the reversible magnetization around $T_{\rm C}$ and the easy fabrication make the Tb₆Co_1.67Si₃ compound a suitable candidate for magnetic refrigerants in a corresponding temperature range.     

Preparation and low field magnetoresistance of double layered manganite La1.4Ca1.6Mn2O7

Double layered manganite of La_1.4Ca_1.6Mn₂O₇ (DLCMO) was prepared using solid state reaction method and had a metal-insulator transition temperature (T_MI) of 125 K. The short range 2D-feerromagnetic ordering (T_C2) starts growing when T<168 K and it gets converted into 3D-ferromagnetic ordering (T_C1) at 114 K. Low field magnetoresistance (MR) behaviour of the DLCMO was investigated and compared with an infinite layered manganite La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ (LCMO). For DLCMO, in the temperature range between T_C1 and T_C2, the MR showed a gradual increase with the magnetic field. The observed MR and R-T behaviour of double layered manganite for T_C1<T<T_C2 has been explained in the frame work of the two phase model [ferromagnetic (FM) domains and paramagnetic (PM) regions] and percolative behaviour of transport in FM-PM mixture.     

Thickness dependence of electroresistance in La0.67Ca0.33MnO3 epitaxial films

The electroresistance (ER) of La_0.67Ca_0.33MnO₃ (LCMO) epitaxial thin films with different thicknesses was studied. For the 110 nm thick LCMO film, its ER shows a maximum at T_p, where the resistance shows a peak, and decreases to zero at lower temperatures. While for the 30 nm thick LCMO film, its ER is remarkable in a wide temperature range. Another interesting observation in this work is that the electric current can tune the magnetoresistance of the ultrathin LCMO thin film. The results were discussed by considering the coexistence of ferromagnetic metallic phase with the charge ordered phase, and the variation of the phase separation with film thickness and electric current. This work also demonstrates that electric current can tune the magnetoresistance of the manganites, which is helpful for their applications.     

Anomalous magnetic properties of an iron film system deposited on fracture surfaces of α-Al2O3 ceramics

An iron film percolation system is fabricated by vapour-phase deposition on fracture surfaces of α-Al2O3 ceramics. The zero-field-cooled （ZFC） and field-cooled （FC） magnetization measurement reveals that the magnetic phase of the film samples evolve from a high-temperature ferromagnetic state to a low-temperature spin-glass-like state, which is also demonstrated by the temperature-dependent ac susceptibility of the iron films. The temperature dependence of the exchange bias field He of the iron film exhibits a minimum peak around the temperature T=5 K, which is independent of the magnitude of the cooling field Hcf. However, for T 〉 10K, （1） He is always negative when Hcf=2kOe and （2） for Hcf= 20 kOe （1Oe≈80 A/m）, He changes from negative to positive values as T increases. Our experimental results show that the anomalous hysteresis properties mainly result from the oxide surfaces of the films with spin-glass-like phase.