Laser-ablated Gd2O3 thin films: potential ferromagnetic semiconductors?
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Applied Physics A: Materials Science and Processing |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00339-025-08747-w |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-025-08747-w |
| Keywords | Gadolinium oxide; 2D materials; Room temperature ferromagnetism; Oxygen vacancy; Spintronics |
| Attached files | |
| Description | The emergence of room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) in thin films of semiconducting oxides has attracted significant interest due to its promising applications in spintronic and multifunctional electronic devices. Ferromagnetism (FM) in ultrathin layers of magnetic transition-metal oxides and in thin films of undoped oxide semiconductors typically arising from low dimensionality and the formation of surface-related vacancies and defects, makes them attractive for spintronics applications. The primary objective of this research is to investigate the magnetism in ultrathin rare-earth oxide films as a function of dimensionality. In this study, we report the structural and magnetic properties of Gd2O3 thin films grown on LaAlO3 (LAO) substrates using the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Room-temperature M–H measurements show a significant ferromagnetic response in the out-of-plane direction compared to the in-plane direction. As the Gd2O3 film thickness increases, the ferromagnetic features gradually diminish, and at higher thicknesses (t?>?72 nm), a paramagnetic-like behavior is observed, similar to that of bulk Gd2O3 samples. The observed RTFM behaviour in PLD-grown Gd2O3 thin films is attributed to surface oxygen vacancies, as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. This study highlights the achievement of the RTFM in Gd2O3 thin films, which holds potential for future spintronic applications. |
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