Growth and Investigation of Oxide Heterostructures Based on Half-Metallic Fe 3 O 4

B. Vengalis a,b , K. Sliuziene a and V. Lisauskas a a Semiconductor Physics Institute, A. Gostauto 11, 01108 Vilnius, Lithuania b Vilnius, Gediminas Technical University, Sauletekio al. 11, 10223 Vilnius, Lithuania

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We report thin films of ferromagnetic Fe 3 O 4 (magnetite) grown by a reactive magnetron sputtering at T=300÷450°C on lattice-matched MgO, and bilayer structures composed of Fe 3 O 4 and underlying epitaxial films of highly conductive electron-doped In 2 O 3 <n>, LaNiO 3 , and antiferromagnetic CoO. The prepared Fe 3 O 4 /MgO films and the bilayer structures demonstrated clearly defined resistance anomaly at Verwey transition point (T V ~100-120K). Formation of high resistance interlayer was indicated between the adjacent conducting Fe 3 O 4 and LaNiO 3 layers. However, relatively low interface resistivity of about 0.1Ωcm 2 (at T=300K) was estimated for the patterned Fe 3 O 4 /In 2 O 3 <Sn> bilayer structures. Vertical electrical transport measurements revealed strong nonlinearity in the I-U dependences of the Fe 3 O 4 /In 2 O 3 <Sn> interface at T<T V .

DOI: 10.12693/APhysPolA.105.659 PACS numbers: 75.47.Gk, 75.47.Lx, 07.57.Kp