Journal de la métallurgie des poudres et des mines

Abstrait

Role of Cerium Doping on Epitaxial Yttrium Iron Garnet Thin films

Fida Mohmed , Syed Irfan , Ashiq H Sofi, Faroq A Dar, Majid Hussain , Abid Ahmad and Yuan-Hua Lin*

The present work discusses the growth optimization and magnetic properties of the Cerium doped Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) thin films grown through Pulsed Laser Deposition technique. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) reveals the highly crystalline, Single Phase, nature of films and the Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) shows the films are very smooth, with root mean square roughness of less than 1 nm. Thickness of the films as calculated from the X-ray reflectivity (XRR) was found to be around 17, 35, 52, 70 and 122 nm. The Magnetic measurement shows the increase in the Saturation Magnetization, in the cerium doped YIG, but as the growth time increases, we observed a decrease in magnetic Saturation. The decrease in saturation magnetization arises due to the formation of residual Ce2O phase in the longer grown films. Longitudinal Spin Seebeck Voltage signal was observed in the films and the Platinum (Pt) deposited over the Cerium doped YIG film showed no sign of Pt magnetization.