Properties of epitaxial chromium dioxide films grown by chemical vapor deposition using a liquid precursor

Epitaxial chromium dioxide (CrO2) films have been grown using chemical vapor deposition on (100) TiO2 substrate with chromyl chloride (CrO2Cl2) as a liquid precursor. The films are extremely smooth (rms roughness less than 4.6 Angstrom for a 1000-Angstrom-thick film) and have the largest spin polarization (P=98.4%) yet observed, as determined by point contact Andreev reflection. Magnetization switching properties of the films are close to those of a single-domain particle. Preliminary results on the in situ growth of exchange-biased CrO2/Cr2O3 multilayers are also reported. Although a bias field is observed, it is much smaller in comparison with the coercivity of the CrO2 film. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.