The 50 nm-thick yttrium iron garnet films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films possessing both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) and low damping would serve as ideal candidates for high-speed energy-efficient spintronic and magnonic devices. However, it is still challenging to achieve PMA in YIG films thicker than 20 nm, which is a major bottleneck for their development. In this work, we demonstrate that this problem can be solved by using substrates with moderate lattice mismatch with YIG so as to suppress the excessive strain-induced stress release as increasing the YIG thickness. After carefully optimizing the growth and annealing conditions, we have achieved out-of-plane spontaneous magnetization in YIG films grown on sGGG substrates, even when they are as thick as 50 nm. Furthermore, ferromagnetic resonance and spin pumping induced inverse spin Hall effect measurements further verify the good spin transparency at the surface of our YIG films.

Automated summary

In this study, we addressed the challenge of achieving perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films thicker than 20 nm. By using substrates with moderate lattice mismatch, we successfully suppressed the excessive strain-induced stress release and achieved out-of-plane spontaneous magnetization even in YIG films as thick as 50 nm. Ferromagnetic resonance and spin pumping induced inverse spin Hall effect measurements confirmed the good spin transparency at the surface of our YIG films.