PNNL

Abstract

Structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial CoxTi1-xO2 films with x~2%, grown by RF magnetron sputtering from composite oxide targets on lattice matched LaAIO3(001) substrates have been investigated. The films were sputtered at a deposition rate of ~0.12 Å/s for a range of substrate temperatures from 300°C to 750°C, followed by UHV annealing for 1 hr at 400°C and aging in air for 3 months. XRD experiments determine the best quality of highly oriented anatase (991) phase in films deposited 500-750°C. Magnetic hysteresis loops at 5K and 300K and thermoremanence measurements from 5-365 K show ferromagnetism in all samples in the whole temperature range. Annealing and aging lead to an increase of spontaneous moment an order of magnitude of up to ~1.1 µB/ Co atom at 300 K. As=deposited, annealed, and aged films were found to be highly resistive changes both in surface morphology and distribution of spontaneous magnetization in the annealed films. Possible mechanisms of the ferromagnetic behavior of such dielectric transition metal-doped oxides will be discussed.