Yttrium Iron Garnet Thin Films with Very Low Damping Obtained by Recrystallization of Amorphous Material

• Published in: Scientific reports 2016-02, Vol.6 (1), p.20827-20827, Article 20827
• Main Authors: Hauser, Christoph, Richter, Tim, Homonnay, Nico, Eisenschmidt, Christian, Qaid, Mohammad, Deniz, Hakan, Hesse, Dietrich, Sawicki, Maciej, Ebbinghaus, Stefan G., Schmidt, Georg
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/301/119/997; 639/766/119/1001; Fabrication; Humanities and Social Sciences; Iron; Melting; multidisciplinary; Oxides; Science; Temperature effects; Thin films; Yttrium
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep20827

We have investigated recrystallization of amorphous Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) by annealing in oxygen atmosphere. Our findings show that well below the melting temperature the material transforms into a fully epitaxial layer with exceptional quality, both structural and magnetic. In ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) ultra low damping and extremely narrow linewidth can be observed. For a 56 nm thick layer a damping constant of α = (6.15 ± 1.50) · 10 −5 is found and the linewidth at 9.6 GHz is as small as 1.30 ± 0.05 Oe which are the lowest values for PLD grown thin films reported so far. Even for a 20 nm thick layer a damping constant of α = (7.35 ± 1.40) · 10 −5 is found which is the lowest value for ultrathin films published so far. The FMR linewidth in this case is 3.49 ± 0.10 Oe at 9.6 GHz. Our results not only present a method of depositing thin film YIG of unprecedented quality but also open up new options for the fabrication of thin film complex oxides or even other crystalline materials.