Abstract
Growth, structural, magnetic, and spin transport properties of epitaxial scandium-substituted terbium iron garnet (TbScIG) thin films on gadolinium gallium garnet [GGG, (111) orientation] substrates are reported as a function of Sc content. The films are epitaxial on GGG without strain relaxation up to a thickness of 90 nm and exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Sc, a nonmagnetic cation, occupies up to 40% of the octahedral Fe sites. Increasing Sc lowers the compensation temperature and Curie temperature and increases the room-temperature saturation magnetization from 37 kA/m for to 59 kA/m for . Anomalous Hall effect-like spin Hall magnetoresistance measurements were performed to determine the effect of scandium content on spin mixing conductance of the TbScIG|Pt interface. The spin mixing conductance increased significantly with an increase in Sc content, consistent with a dependence of spin transport on the net Fe magnetization instead of the total magnetization of the garnet.
- Received 1 June 2021
- Accepted 30 July 2021
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.084408
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