Structural, magnetic and transport properties of Co\(_2\)CrAl epitaxial thin films

We report the physical properties of Co\(_2\)CrAl Heusler alloy epitaxial thin films grown on single crystalline MgO(001) substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique. The x-ray diffraction pattern in \(\theta\)-2\(\theta\) mode showed the film growth in single phase B2-type ordered cubic struc...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2022-08
Main Authors: Guru Dutt Gupt, Dhaka, Rajendra S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coercivity
Curie temperature
Diffraction patterns
Electrical resistivity
Epitaxial growth
Ferromagnetic materials
Film growth
Heusler alloys
Low temperature
Magnesium oxide
Magnetic properties
Magnetic saturation
Magnetism
Magnetization curves
Physical properties
Pulsed laser deposition
Pulsed lasers
Substrates
Thin films
Transport properties
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report the physical properties of Co\(_2\)CrAl Heusler alloy epitaxial thin films grown on single crystalline MgO(001) substrate using pulsed laser deposition technique. The x-ray diffraction pattern in \(\theta\)-2\(\theta\) mode showed the film growth in single phase B2-type ordered cubic structure with the presence of (002) and (004) peaks, and the film oriented along the MgO(001) direction. The \(\phi\)~scan along the (220) plane confirms the four-fold symmetry and the epitaxial growth relation found to be Co\(_2\)CrAl(001)[100]$\vert$$\vert\(MgO(001)[110]. The thickness of about 12~nm is extracted through the analysis of x-ray reflectivity data. The isothermal magnetization (M--H) curves confirm the ferromagnetic (FM) nature of the thin film having significant hysteresis at 5 and 300~K. From the in-plane M--H curves, the saturation magnetization values are determined to be 2.1~\)\mu$$_{\rm B}\(/f.u.~at 5~K and 1.6~\)\mu$$_{\rm B}\(/f.u. at 300~K, which suggests the soft FM behavior in the film having the coercive field \)\approx\( 522~Oe at 5~K. The thermo-magnetization measurements at 500~Oe magnetic field show the bifurcation between field-cooled and zero-field-cooled curves below about 100~K. The normalized field-cooled magnetization curve follows the T\)^2\( dependency, and the analysis reveal the Curie temperature around 335\)\pm\(11~K. Moreover, the low-temperature resistivity indicates semiconducting behavior with the temperature, and we find a negative temperature coefficient of resistivity (5.2 \)\times\( 10\)^{-4}$ /K).
ISSN:2331-8422