Growth and properties of epitaxial GdN

Abstract

Epitaxial gadolinium nitride films with well-oriented crystallites of up to 30 nm have been grown on yttria-stabilized ziconia substrates using a plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition technique. We observe that the epitaxial GdN growth proceeds on top of a gadolinium oxide buffer layer that forms via reaction between deposited Gd and mobile oxygen from the substrate. Hall effect measurements show the films are electron doped to degeneracy, with carrier concentrations of 4×1020 cm−3. Magnetic measurements establish a TC of 70 K with a coercive field that can be tuned from 200 Oe to as low as 10 Oe.