Magnetoelectric control of antiferromagnetic domain state in Cr2O3 thin film

Author(s):  
Yu Shiratsuchi ◽  
Kentaro Toyoki ◽  
Ryoichi Nakatani
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 36
Author(s):  
Yu Shiratsuchi ◽  
Yiran Tao ◽  
Kentaro Toyoki ◽  
Ryoichi Nakatani

Magnetoelectric (ME) effect is a result of the interplay between magnetism and electric field and now, it is regarded as a principle that can be applied to the technique of controlling the antiferromagnetic (AFM) domain state. The ME-controlled AFM domain state can be read out by the magnetization of the adjacent ferromagnetic layer coupled with the ME AFM layer via exchange bias. In this technique, the reduction in the ME layer thickness is an ongoing challenge. In this paper, we demonstrate the ME-induced switching of exchange bias polarity using the 30-nm thick ME Cr2O3 thin film. Two typical switching processes, the ME field cooling (MEFC) and isothermal modes, are both explored. The required ME field for the switching in the MEFC mode suggests that the ME susceptibility (α33) is not deteriorated at 30 nm thickness regime. The isothermal change of the exchange bias shows the hysteresis with respect to the electric field, and there is an asymmetry of the switching field depending on the switching direction. The quantitative analysis of this asymmetry yields α33 at 273 K of 3.7 ± 0.5 ps/m, which is comparable to the reported value for the bulk Cr2O3.


Author(s):  
D. M. Davies ◽  
R. Kemner ◽  
E. F. Fullam

All serious electron microscopists at one time or another have been concerned with the cleanliness and freedom from artifacts of thin film specimen support substrates. This is particularly important where there are relatively few particles of a sample to be found for study, as in the case of micrometeorite collections. For the deposition of such celestial garbage through the use of balloons, rockets, and aircraft, the thin film substrates must have not only all the attributes necessary for use in the electron microscope, but also be able to withstand rather wide temperature variations at high altitude, vibration and shock inherent in the collection vehicle's operation and occasionally an unscheduled violent landing.Nitrocellulose has been selected as a film forming material that meets these requirements yet lends itself to a relatively simple clean-up procedure to remove particulate contaminants. A 1% nitrocellulose solution is prepared by dissolving “Parlodion” in redistilled amyl acetate from which all moisture has been removed.


Author(s):  
E.J. Jenkins ◽  
D.S. Tucker ◽  
J.J. Hren

The size range of mineral and ceramic particles of one to a few microns is awkward to prepare for examination by TEM. Electrons can be transmitted through smaller particles directly and larger particles can be thinned by crushing and dispersion onto a substrate or by embedding in a film followed by ion milling. Attempts at dispersion onto a thin film substrate often result in particle aggregation by van der Waals attraction. In the present work we studied 1-10 μm diameter Al2O3 spheres which were transformed from the amprphous state to the stable α phase.After the appropriate heat treatment, the spherical powders were embedded in as high a density as practicable in a hard EPON, and then microtomed into thin sections. There are several advantages to this method. Obviously, this is a rapid and convenient means to study the microstructure of serial slices. EDS, ELS, and diffraction studies are also considerably more informative. Furthermore, confidence in sampling reliability is considerably enhanced. The major negative feature is some distortion of the microstructure inherent to the microtoming operation; however, this appears to have been surprisingly small. The details of the method and some typical results follow.


Author(s):  
R. C. Moretz ◽  
G. G. Hausner ◽  
D. F. Parsons

Use of the electron microscope to examine wet objects is possible due to the small mass thickness of the equilibrium pressure of water vapor at room temperature. Previous attempts to examine hydrated biological objects and water itself used a chamber consisting of two small apertures sealed by two thin films. Extensive work in our laboratory showed that such films have an 80% failure rate when wet. Using the principle of differential pumping of the microscope column, we can use open apertures in place of thin film windows.Fig. 1 shows the modified Siemens la specimen chamber with the connections to the water supply and the auxiliary pumping station. A mechanical pump is connected to the vapor supply via a 100μ aperture to maintain steady-state conditions.


Author(s):  
D.W. Andrews ◽  
F.P. Ottensmeyer

Shadowing with heavy metals has been used for many years to enhance the topological features of biological macromolecular complexes. The three dimensional features present in directionaly shadowed specimens often simplifies interpretation of projection images provided by other techniques. One difficulty with the method is the relatively large amount of metal used to achieve sufficient contrast in bright field images. Thick shadow films are undesirable because they decrease resolution due to an increased tendency for microcrystalline aggregates to form, because decoration artefacts become more severe and increased cap thickness makes estimation of dimensions more uncertain.The large increase in contrast provided by the dark field mode of imaging allows the use of shadow replicas with a much lower average mass thickness. To form the images in Fig. 1, latex spheres of 0.087 μ average diameter were unidirectionally shadowed with platinum carbon (Pt-C) and a thin film of carbon was indirectly evaporated on the specimen as a support.


Author(s):  
D.W. Susnitzky ◽  
S.R. Summerfelt ◽  
C.B. Carter

Solid-state reactions have traditionally been studied in the form of diffusion couples. This ‘bulk’ approach has been modified, for the specific case of the reaction between NiO and Al2O3, by growing NiAl2O4 (spinel) from electron-transparent Al2O3 TEM foils which had been exposed to NiO vapor at 1415°C. This latter ‘thin-film’ approach has been used to characterize the initial stage of spinel formation and to produce clean phase boundaries since further TEM preparation is not required after the reaction is completed. The present study demonstrates that chemical-vapor deposition (CVD) can be used to deposit NiO particles, with controlled size and spatial distributions, onto Al2O3 TEM specimens. Chemical reactions do not occur during the deposition process, since CVD is a relatively low-temperature technique, and thus the NiO-Al2O3 interface can be characterized. Moreover, a series of annealing treatments can be performed on the same sample which allows both Ni0-NiAl2O4 and NiAl2O4-Al2O3 interfaces to be characterized and which therefore makes this technique amenable to kinetics studies of thin-film reactions.


Author(s):  
M. Grant Norton ◽  
C. Barry Carter

Pulsed-laser ablation has been widely used to produce high-quality thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-δ on a range of substrate materials. The nonequilibrium nature of the process allows congruent deposition of oxides with complex stoichiometrics. In the high power density regime produced by the UV excimer lasers the ablated species includes a mixture of neutral atoms, molecules and ions. All these species play an important role in thin-film deposition. However, changes in the deposition parameters have been shown to affect the microstructure of thin YBa2Cu3O7-δ films. The formation of metastable configurations is possible because at the low substrate temperatures used, only shortrange rearrangement on the substrate surface can occur. The parameters associated directly with the laser ablation process, those determining the nature of the process, e g. thermal or nonthermal volatilization, have been classified as ‘primary parameters'. Other parameters may also affect the microstructure of the thin film. In this paper, the effects of these ‘secondary parameters' on the microstructure of YBa2Cu3O7-δ films will be discussed. Examples of 'secondary parameters' include the substrate temperature and the oxygen partial pressure during deposition.


Author(s):  
E. L. Hall ◽  
A. Mogro-Campero ◽  
L. G. Turner ◽  
N. Lewis

There is great interest in the growth of thin superconducting films of YBa2Cu3Ox on silicon, since this is a necessary first step in the use of this superconductor in a variety of possible electronic applications including interconnects and hybrid semiconductor/superconductor devices. However, initial experiments in this area showed that drastic interdiffusion of Si into the superconductor occurred during annealing if the Y-Ba-Cu-O was deposited direcdy on Si or SiO2, and this interdiffusion destroyed the superconducting properties. This paper describes the results of the use of a zirconia buffer layer as a diffusion barrier in the growth of thin YBa2Cu3Ox films on Si. A more complete description of the growth and characterization of these films will be published elsewhere.Thin film deposition was carried out by sequential electron beam evaporation in vacuum onto clean or oxidized single crystal Si wafers. The first layer evaporated was 0.4 μm of zirconia.


Author(s):  
P. Lu ◽  
W. Huang ◽  
C.S. Chern ◽  
Y.Q. Li ◽  
J. Zhao ◽  
...  

The YBa2Cu3O7-x thin films formed by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) have been reported to have excellent superconducting properties including a sharp zero resistance transition temperature (Tc) of 89 K and a high critical current density of 2.3x106 A/cm2 or higher. The origin of the high critical current in the thin film compared to bulk materials is attributed to its structural properties such as orientation, grain boundaries and defects on the scale of the coherent length. In this report, we present microstructural aspects of the thin films deposited on the (100) LaAlO3 substrate, which process the highest critical current density.Details of the thin film growth process have been reported elsewhere. The thin films were examined in both planar and cross-section view by electron microscopy. TEM sample preparation was carried out using conventional grinding, dimpling and ion milling techniques. Special care was taken to avoid exposure of the thin films to water during the preparation processes.


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