Epitaxial growth of biferroic YMnO3(0001) on platinum electrodes

Epitaxial films of the biferroic YMnO3 (YMO) oxide have been grown on platinum-coated SrTiO3(1 1 1) and Al2O3(0 0 0 1) substrates. The platinum electrodes, (1 1 1) oriented, are templates for the epitaxy of the hexagonal phase of YMO with a (0 0 0 1) out-of-plane orientation, which is of interest as this is the polarization direction of YMO. X-ray diffractometry indicates the presence of two crystal domains, 60° rotated in-plane, in the Pt(1 1 1) layers which subsequently are transferred on the upperlaying YMO. Cross-section analysis by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) of YMnO3/Pt/SrTiO3(1 1 1) shows high-quality epitaxy and sharp interfaces across the structure in the observed region. We present a detailed study of the epitaxial growth of the hexagonal YMO on the electrodes.

Dielectric anomaly and magnetic response of epitaxial orthorhombic YMnO3 thin films

The structure, magnetic response, and dielectric response of the grown epitaxial thin films of the orthorhombic phase of YMnO3 oxide on Nb:SrTiO3 (001) substrates have been measured. We have found that a substrate-induced strain produces an in-plane compression of the YMnO3 unit cell. The magnetization versus temperature curves display a significant zero-field cooling (ZFC)-field cooling hysteresis below the Nel temperature (TN 45 K). The dielectric constant increases gradually (up to 26%) below the TN and mimics the ZFC magnetization curve. We argue that these effects could be a manifestation of magnetoelectric coupling in YMnO3 thin films and that the magnetic structure of YMnO3 can be controlled by substrate selection and/or growth conditions.

Exchange bias between magnetoelectric YMnO3 and ferromagnetic SrRuO3 epitaxial films

Orthorhombic YMnO3 (YMO) epitaxial thin films were deposited on SrTiO3 (STO) single-crystal substrates. We show that the out-of-plane texture of the YMO films can be tailored using STO substrates having (001), (110), or (111) orientations. We report on the magnetic properties of the YMO(010) films grown on STO(001) substrates. The dependence of the susceptibility on the temperature indicates that the films are antiferromagnetic below the Néel temperature (around 35 K). Orthorhombic YMO(010) films were also deposited on an epitaxial buffer layer of ferromagnetic and metallic SrRuO3 (SRO). The magnetic hysteresis loops of SRO show exchange bias at temperatures below the Néel temperature of YMO. These results confirm that the YMO films are antiferromagnetic and demonstrate that magnetoelectric YMO can be integrated in functional epitaxial architectures.

Development of basis sets to calculations of the electronic structure of YMnO3

The generator coordinate Hartree-Fock method was used to develop 20s17p, 30s20p14d, and 30s21p16d Gaussian basis sets for the O ((3)p), Mn (S-6), and Y (D-2) atoms, respectively. The Gaussian basis sets were contracted to 20s17p/9s7p, 30s20p14d/11s7p7d, and 30s21p16d/14s7p7d and utilized in calculations of total energy and orbital energies of the (MnO1+)-Mn-5 and (YO1+)-Y-3 fragments to evaluate its quality in molecular studies. Finally, the contracted basis set for O atom was supplemented with one polarization function of d symmetry and used along with the other contracted basis sets (for Mn and Y) to calculate dipole moments, total energy, and total atomic charges in YMnO3 in space group D-6h. The analysis of those properties showed that is reasonable to believe that YMnO3 present behavior of piezoelectric material. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electric-field control of exchange bias in multiferroic epitaxial heterostructures

The magnetic exchange between epitaxial thin films of the multiferroic (antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric) hexagonal YMnO3 oxide and a soft ferromagnetic (FM) layer is used to couple the magnetic response of the FM layer to the magnetic state of the antiferromagnetic one. We will show that biasing the ferroelectric YMnO3 layer by an electric field allows control of the magnetic exchange bias and subsequently the magnetotransport properties of the FM layer. This finding may contribute to paving the way towards a new generation of electric-field controlled spintronic devices.

High-voltage electrophoretic deposition of preferentially oriented films from multiferroic YMn2O5 nanopowders

Processing of the YMn2O5 powder is very challenging, since it decomposes to YMnO3 and Mn3O4 at temperatures close to 1180 °C, while samples consolidation commonly demands high temperatures. The main goal of this work is to investigate a possibility to prepare thick films of YMn2O5, since their deposition generally requires significantly lower temperatures. Multiferroic YMn 2O5 was synthesized by the hydrothermal method from Y(CH3COO)3·xH2O, Mn(CH 3COO)2·4H2O and KMnO4 precursors. XRD, FE-SEM and TEM analysis showed that the obtained powder was monophasic, with orthorhombic crystal structure and columnar particle shape with mean diameter and length of around 20 and 50 nm, respectively. The obtained powder was suspended in isopropyl alcohol with addition of appropriate binder and deflocculant. This suspension was used for electrophoretic deposition of YMn2O5 thick films under the high-voltage conditions and electric fields ranging from 250 to 2125 V/cm. The films obtained at 1000 V/cm and higher electric fields showed good adhesion, particle packing, homogeneity and very low porosity. It was shown that the deposition in extremely high electric fields (KC=2125 V/cm) can influence the crystal orientation of the films, resulting in formation of preferentially oriented films. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.

Mechanochemical synthesis of yttrium manganite

Yttrium manganite (YMnO3) is a multiferroic material, which means that it exhibits both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties, so making it interesting for a variety of technological applications. In this work, single-phase YMnO3 was prepared for the first time by mechanochemical synthesis in a planetary ball mill. The YMnO3 was formed directly from the highly activated constituent oxides, Y 2O3 and Mn2O3, after 60 min of milling time. During prolonged milling, the growth of the particles occurred. The cumulative energy introduced into the system during milling for 60 min was 86 kJ/g. The X-ray powder-diffraction analysis indicates that the as-prepared samples crystallize with an orthorhombic (Pnma) YMnO3 structure. The morphology and chemical composition of the powder were investigated by SEM and FESEM. The magnetic properties of the obtained YMnO3 powders were found to change as a function of the milling time in a manner consistent with the variation in the nanocomposite microstructure. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.