Polarized neutron reflectivity studies on epitaxial BiFeO3/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 heterostructure integrated with Si (100)

Abstract

This work reports polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR) measurements performed using the Magnetism Reflectometer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory on epitaxial BiFeO3(BFO)/La0.7Sr0.3MnO3(LSMO)/SrTiO3(STO)/MgO/TiN heterostructure deposited on Si (100) substrates. By measuring the angular dependence of neutrons reflected from the sample, PNR can provide insights on interface magnetic spin structure, chemical composition and magnetic depth profiles with a nanometer resolution. Our first analysis of nuclear scattering length density (NSLD) and magnetic scattering length density (MSLD) depth profiles measured at 4 K have successfully reproduced most of the expected features of this heterostructure, such as the NSLD for the Si, TiN, MgO, STO, LSMO layers and remanent magnetization (2.28μB/Mn) of bulk LSMO. However, the SLD of the BFO is decreased by about 30% from the expected value. When 5 V was applied across the BFO/LSMO interface, we found that the magnetic moment of the LSMO layer could be varied by about 15-20% at 6 K. Several mechanisms such as redistribution of oxygen vacancies, interface strain, charge screening and valence state change at the interface could be at play. Work is in progress to gain an improved in-depth understanding of these effects using MOKE and STEM-Z interface specific measurements.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jan 10, 2018
Source ID
10.1063/1.5006473

Entities

People

  • A. Glavic
  • J. T. Prater
  • Jagdish Narayan
  • Srinivasa Rao Singamaneni
  • V. Lauter

Organizations

  • Army Research Office
  • National Science Foundation
  • North Carolina State University
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
  • Paul Scherrer Institute
  • United States Army Research Laboratory
  • University of Texas at El Paso

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.
  • Thin Film Deposition Science.