Effect of mechanical stresses on the dielectric response of PZT ferroelectric thin films

This paper reports on the results of the investigation into the effect of mechanical stresses on the dielectric properties of PZT ferroelectric thin films. An external load G applied to the sample brings about an increase in the residual tensile stress along one of the axes of the film. It is demonstrated that, in weak and moderate electric fields, an increase in the stress σ leads to an increase in the permittivity ε′ of the sample. A further increase in the strength of the measuring electric field results in the opposite effect: the permittivity ε′ decreases with increasing external load G. The observed effects are explained in terms of the specific features revealed in the behavior of the domain structure of the ferroelectric thin films in fields of internal stresses.     

Observation and theory of strong stripe domains in amorphous sputtered FeB films

Domain structures in thin sputtered amorphous FeB films are studied by means of the longitudinal Kerr effect. In addition to the irregular domain structure characteristic of soft magnetic materials, we observe in certain regions a fine equilibrium domain structure with periodicity of a few micrometers. The Kerr contrast indicates that the magnetization at the surface of the film lies partially along the stripe direction. These characteristics and the behavior in applied fields suggests that the domains are similar to type II “strong stripe domains” observed earlier in permalloy films. Extending an earlier theory by Hara, we use a stray-field-free model with tilted orthorhombic anisotropy to show that there are at least two qualitatively different strong stripe structures: type IIa with surface magnetization perpendicular to the stripes and type IIb with surface magnetization at least partially parallel to the stripes. Type IIb is favored when K_p/K₀<cos 2θ ₀ where K₀ is the anisotropy component with axis tilted by θ₀ out of the film plane, and K_p is an in-plane anisotropy perpendicular to K₀. Strong stripes in amorphous FeB appear to be type IIb while those in permalloy are usually type IIa.     

Stability of the magnetic domain structure of nanoparticle thin films against external fields

We investigate the effect of external magnetic fields on the magnetic structure of thin films from magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) with dipolar interaction. Such fields are present, for example, if samples are scanned with magnetic probes. Numerical simulations and experimental magnetic force microscopy (MFM) studies are presented. Numerically, we have calculated the magnetization pattern of single-layer and multilayer MNP thin films. The calculations show that unperturbed single-layer MNP films have an in-plane orientation of the magnetization with a flux-closure-domain pattern. An external field generated by a point dipole above the film induces locally an out-of-plane configuration of the magnetization. In the corresponding MFM images, the domain pattern in the film is erased and a stripe-like contrast enhancement at the edges appears. Multilayer films are found to be more robust against external fields than monolayers.     

Thermodynamically stable fractal-like domain structures in magnetic films

A fractal-like structure of the domain boundaries was revealed in “overcritical” uniaxial Permalloy magnetic films. The fractal dimension of domain boundaries at the film surfaces was determined as a function of the film thickness. It is shown that the phase transition between the two possible types of fractal-like structures is accompanied by a jump in fractal dimension.

     

Magnetic force microscopy studies of domain walls in nickel and cobalt films

A magnetic force microscopy is used to examine the domain walls in nickel and cobalt films deposited by argon ion sputtering. Thin nickel films deposited at high substrate temperatures exhibit coexistent Bloch and Neel walls. Films grown at room temperature display alternative Bloch lines with cap switches. These films agglomerate to form grains after annealed at high temperatures. The film composed of larger grains behaves better nucleation implying magnetic domains of closure, while the film composed of smaller grains exhibits more defects implying alternative Bloch lines. We have also observed domain displacements and cap switches, which occur due to precipitation of particles in small grain size films. Stripe domains are observed for film thicknesses larger than 100 nm. They become zigzag cells when an external field of 1.5 T is applied perpendicular to the surface of the films. This experiment indicates that the domain sizes in thin films and the strip widths for thick films both depend on the square-root of the film thickness, which varies from 5 to 45 nm and from 100 to 450 nm, respectively.     

Domain structures of sodium tungsten bronzes,NaxWO3 (0.4 < x < 1)

Optical-microscope observations with polarized light have shown that the birefringent, twin-domain structure of sodium tungsten bronzes is exhibited by Na-deficient, epitaxial surface films and hence is not a bulk property as had been suggested elsewhere. The film is translucent, 10^-2-10^-3 mm thick or less, and often laminates to a multi-film layer The domain boundaries are sensitive to lateral stress and, apparently, to minute changes in the substrate structure. These and related properties of the film and the substrate are presented.     

Domain structure in an ultrathin ferromagnetic film: Three-parameter model

A stripe domain structure (DS) was studied in an ultrathin ferromagnetic film under an in-plane magnetic field. The basic structure parameters (the amplitude and period of the DS, the thickness of domain walls) were determined within a unified variational approach, and transitions from the DS state to a homogeneous canted and a homogeneous planar phase were studied.     

外加磁场对射频磁控溅射制备铝掺杂氧化锌薄膜影响的研究

利用射频磁控溅射法制备了铝掺杂氧化锌(AZO)透明导电薄膜,在传统的磁控溅射系统中引入外加磁场,研究了外加磁场对AZO薄膜沉积速率、形貌结构及光电特性的影响.研究结果表明,外加磁场后薄膜的沉积速率从不加磁场的13.04 nm/min提高到了19.93 nm/min;外加磁场后薄膜表面平整致密、颗粒大小均匀,结晶质量较高,而不加磁场薄膜表面形貌呈蠕虫状,薄膜质量较差.溅射时间为90 min时,外加磁场前后AZO薄膜方阻分别为30.74?/和12.88?/.外加磁场对薄膜可见光透过率影响不大,但使薄膜的吸收边蓝移现象更明显.运用ansys软件对磁控溅射二维磁场分布模拟后发现,外加磁场提高了靶上方横向磁场强度,改善了磁场分布的均匀性,加强了磁场对电子的磁控作用,提高了靶电流,是AZO薄膜的溅射速率、光电性能和形貌结构得到提高和优化的原因.     

On the bloch wall motion in multilayer films

A Bloch wall is considered which is pinned along its intersection line with the film surface and bent due to the action of an external field. It can be shown that beyond a critical field the wall starts to move irreversibly. In film systems consisting of hard and soft films the pinning may be caused by the connection between the walls in the different films. In this case the calculation of the critical field gives a value which is the flux-weighted average of the coercive fields of the hard and soft films in agreement with previous experimental results of Crowther.     

Order—disorder phase transitions in domain structures of ferrite—garnet films

Order—order and order—disorder phase transitions in the domain structure of ferrite—garnet films upon a change in temperature or magnetic field were studied. It was shown that the structure of the domain boundaries affects the type of the phase transitions.     

Influence of induced uniaxial anisotropy on the domain structure and phase transitions of yttrium-iron garnet films

The effect of induced uniaxial anisotropy on the properties and parameters of the domain structure and phase transitions in yttrium-iron garnet (YIG) films is investigated. Based on the measurements and the derived formulas we determine the difference between the magnetization and the uniaxial anisotropy field for each of the films. We have also measured the parameters of the domain structures and phase transitions of the films for the magnetization parallel and perpendicular to the projections of the [111] crystallographic axes onto the plane of the film. We find that films of pure YIG films grown in (111) are characterized by the existence of some critical value of the uniaxial anisotropy field. It is found that for films in which the uniaxial anisotropy field is larger than this critical value and films in which it is less than this critical value, such parameters of the domain structures as the ratio of the width of the domains to the film thickness, the orientation of the magnetization of the domains, the orientation of the domain boundaries, and the magnitudes of the phase transition fields differ substantially. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 2034–2041 (November 1999)     

Magnetic ordering in (110) Eu films in an applied magnetic field

Below its ordering temperature (T _N = 90 K), bulk bcc Eu has a helical magnetic state with propagation vectors along the three equivalent 〈100〉 directions. In contrast, epitaxial (110)Eu films exhibit a unique magnetic ordering: the domain with a magnetic helix propagating along the in-plane [001] direction vanishes on cooling, at the expense of other domains with helices propagating along [100] and [010]. This paper is devoted to the study of the stability of the magnetic domains in an external magnetic field using neutron scattering experiments and macroscopic magnetization measurements. The helix propagating along the [001] direction can be restored by the application of an external field along this direction. On the contrary, when a magnetic field is applied along an intermediate direction, specifically [10], the domain with a helix propagating along [001] is suppressed. Both effects depend on the film thickness. They are explained if one considers that, because of the low magnetic anisotropy of Eu, a helix with a propagation vector parallel to (or close to) the applied magnetic field is energetically more favourable than cycloidal structures with unchanged propagation vectors. Finally, the amplitudes of the propagation vectors and their directions (that are modified in films compared to bulk) do not vary under magnetic field.     

The effect of friction on nonlinear oscillations of interacting domain walls in an external periodic field

The effect of dissipation on nonlinear oscillations in a system of domain walls experiencing an external harmonic field is studied numerically. The problem is formulated for uniaxial ferromagnet films, with the easy magnetic axis being perpendicular to the surface and with the harmonic field being aligned with the axis. Account is taken of the dynamic redistribution of magnetic poles on the film surface, which enables one to derive, in a natural way, an expression for a restoring force acting on the domain walls. The force is a nonlinear function of domain-wall displacement from the equilibrium position. It is found that the domain walls may execute complicated steady-state quasi-periodic oscillations and long-term chaotic oscillations. Attractors in the phase space of the system are determined.     

Epitaxial growth of C<Subscript>60</Subscript> thin films on the Bi(0001)/Si(111) surface

The morphology and atomic structure of C₆₀ fullerene films on the Bi(0001)/Si(111)?7 × 7 surface with different coverages have been studied by scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy and low-energy electron microscopy in high vacuum. It is shown that the most favorable sites for nucleation of C₆₀ islands are double steps and domain boundaries on the surface of epitaxial Bi film.     

Magnetostatic energy and stripe domain structure in a ferromagnetic plate of finite width with in-plane anisotropy

The magnetostatic energy and domain structure (DS) in a long ferromagnetic plate of a finite width with in-plane anisotropy are calculated for the case of the domain magnetization vectors lying in the plane of the plate. The situation where the DS period is much shorter than the width but is considerably larger than the thickness of the plate is analyzed in detail. The equilibrium DS period and the width ratio of two adjacent domains are determined as functions of an external magnetic field parallel to the plane of the plate by minimizing the energy. The DS period is found to be proportional to the plate width and the domain wall energy and inversely proportional to the squared saturation magnetization. While the width of the favorable domains (with the magnetization parallel to the field) grows with increasing field, the unfavorable domains, rather than disappearing completely, form relatively narrow transition regions between the favorable domains, i.e., 360° domain walls.     

Dense stripe domains in a nanocrystalline CoFeSiB thin film

We recently reported a possible antiferromagnetically coupled phase in a Co-rich CoFeSiB thin film, that had a partially nanocrystalline Co phase in an amorphous CoFeSiB matrix. Although an amorphous CoFeSiB film should show a ferromagnetic behavior, we observed an antiferromagnetic coupling associated with a nanocrystalline Co phase in the hysteresis-loop measurements of Co-rich CoFeSiB thin films. We ascribed the observed antiferromagnetic coupling to dense stripe domains consisting of periodically up and down domains perpendicular to the surface of the film. The configuration of the stripe domains was confirmed with magnetic force microscopy images. When a longitudinal magnetic field was applied, the size of the stripe domain was reduced. While for a transverse field, the domain structure became tilted and zigzagged, but no in-plane magnetic anisotropy was noted. When the magnetic field was increased to values above the saturation magnetic field, H_S = 2.5 kOe, the domain structure disappeared.     

Microscopic field in nanocrystalline ferromagnetic metal films and the opportunity for studying it by the μSR method

The relation of the microscopic (local) field in nanocrystalline ferromagnetic metal films to macroscopic characteristics (the external magnetic field, average magnetization, saturation magnetization) is determined for the case where a nanocrystalline ferromagnetic film consists of crystallographically ordered grains separated by disordered regions and where the dimensions of grains along a normal to the film plane are much smaller than those in the film plane. In the case of a strong external field (? ? M), the magnetization direction is determined in grains in the form of oblate ellipsoids for metals with uniaxial or cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy. Expressions are derived for the spin polarization of an ensemble of rapidly diffusing and nondiffusing muons in nanocrystalline ferromagnetic films. It is shown that experiments with “slow” positive muons make it possible to measure all parameters of such structures and to obtain important information for studying phase transition physics.     

Experiments on the reflection of cold atoms from magnetic thin films

We report the results from a series of experiments in which ferromagnetic thin films were used as atom mirrors for laser-cooled rubidium atoms released from a magneto-optical trap. The thin films were made of cobalt and lanthanum calcium manganite (LCMO) with thicknesses between 20 and 300 nm. The magnetic domains in these thin films have a periodic structure where the spatial period is of the order of the thickness of the film, and the field decays exponentially above the film over a length scale comparable to the domain size. Thus, the neutral atoms reflect off these films from distances comparable to the thickness of the film, resulting in modification of the reflectivity due to the competition between the repulsive magnetic force and the attractive short-range forces such as van der Waals and Casimir forces. The smoothness of the atom mirror is also modified due to the proximity of the magnetic domains. The reflectivity is sensitive to the domain structure and size, which can be modified in LCMO by applying a modest external magnetic field. In this paper, we discuss the evaluation of the thin films as magnetic mirrors for atom optics, and the measurement of the van der Waals force with an accuracy of about 15%, using cobalt thin films. We also discuss some preliminary results on the temperature-dependent reflectivity for atoms near the ferromagnetic transition at 250 K in the LCMO film, and on the domain dynamics and relaxation.     

Effect of irradiation with Ne<Superscript>+</Superscript> ions on the transformations of domain structures of a uniaxial magnetic film in an AC magnetic field

Effects of irradiation with Ne⁺ ions on the transformations of domain structures (DSs) that occur in a uniaxial magnetic film under the action of an ac magnetic field are investigated. Transitions of a DS from an amorphous state into a hexagonal lattice and a labyrinthine structure are considered. The irradiation is found to lead to a change in the amplitudes of the ac field at which phase transformations of the DS occur. The effect of the magnitude of the ac field on the number of domains in a block with a hexagonal lattice has been studied. It is shown that the process of annealing of defects in a DS consisting of blocks with a hexagonal lattice can be described by the equation of a first-order reaction. The irradiation-induced change in the energy of activation for the annealing of defects in the DS has been found.     

Magnetic force microscopy study of domain structures in magnetic films

Magnetic force microscopy is used to investigate two different types of samples: thin metal films and ferrite garnet films. It is pointed out for garnet films that magnetic force microscopy allows us only to judge the domain structure of surface layers. Problems associated with conducting measurements in external magnetic fields, the effect of the magnetic field of the probe on the investigated domain structure, and using magneto-polarized optics in combination with magnetic force microscopy are considered.