Elastic and magnetic properties of Tb-MnO based thin films

We report on the elastic and magnetic properties of multiferroic Tb0.3Mn20.9O78.8 thin films. The films were deposited on (001) Si using radio frequency magnetron (RF) sputtering at 50 W and ambient temperature. The elastic properties have been established by surface Brillouin scattering (SBS) after fitting the discrete phonon dispersion in the k(parallel to)d range of 0 - 5 by surface Elastodynamic Green's function. The uncertainties in elastic constants values were obtained from Taylor series expansion of the phonon phase velocity as a function of C-11 and C-44 values and subsequently fitted by the least-squares method. The optimum primary elastic constants and their uncertainties were determined as C-11 = 180 +/- 4.9 GPa and C-44 = 43.0 +/- 0.89 GPa. The derived elastic constants show that the films are ductile. Using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), the films have been noted to behave like soft ferromagnetic materials at T <= 150 K. Incommensurate magnetic ordering and spin-glass behaviors have also been observed.

Automated summary

This study reports on the elastic and magnetic properties of multiferroic Tb0.3Mn20.9O78.8 thin films, which were deposited on silicon substrates and exhibited good ductility. The properties were analyzed using surface Brillouin scattering and vibrating sample magnetometry.