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Synthesis and characterization of magnetic (Cr0.5Mn0.5)2GaC thin films

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Abstract

Growth of (Cr0.5Mn0.5)2GaC thin films from C, Ga, and compound Cr0.5Mn0.5 targets is reported for depositions on MgO (111), 4H-SiC (0001), and Al2O3 (0001) with and without a NbN (111) seed layer. Structural quality is found to be highly dependent on the choice of substrate with MgO (111) giving the best results as confirmed by X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Phase pure, high crystal quality MAX phase thin films are realized, with a Cr:Mn ratio of 1:1. Vibrating sample magnetometry shows a ferromagnetic component from 30 K up to 300 K, with a measured net magnetic moment of 0.67 μB per metal (Cr + Mn) atom at 30 K and 5 T. The temperature dependence of the magnetic response suggests competing magnetic interactions with a resulting non-collinear magnetic ordering.

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Acknowledgements

The research was funded by the European Research Council under the European Community Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant agreement No. [258509]. J. Lu acknowledges the KAW Foundation for the Ultra Electron Microscopy Laboratory in Linköping. J. Rosen acknowledges funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR) Grant Nos. 642-2013-8020 and 621-2012-4425, from the KAW Fellowship program, and from the SSF synergy grant FUNCASE. S. Olafsson acknowledges funding from the Icelandic University Research fund.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thin Film Physics, Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 581 83, Linköping, Sweden

    Andrejs Petruhins, Arni Sigurdur Ingason, Jun Lu & Johanna Rosen

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 530, 751 21, Uppsala, Sweden

    Fridrik Magnus

  3. Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3, 107, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Sveinn Olafsson

Authors
  1. Andrejs Petruhins
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  2. Arni Sigurdur Ingason
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  3. Jun Lu
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  4. Fridrik Magnus
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  5. Sveinn Olafsson
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  6. Johanna Rosen
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Correspondence to Andrejs Petruhins.

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Petruhins, A., Ingason, A.S., Lu, J. et al. Synthesis and characterization of magnetic (Cr0.5Mn0.5)2GaC thin films. J Mater Sci 50, 4495–4502 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8999-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-015-8999-8

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