Kalani Perera | Searcharxiv

arXiv2026

Growth of (111)-textured SrTiO3 thin films on Pt(111)/Al2O3(1-102) substrates by rf magnetron sputter deposition

SrTiO3 thin films, 20-30nm, with high quality crystal structure and low roughness can be used as growth templates for complex oxides or as the dielectric materials for capacitor structures. In this work, stoichiometric STO thin films were grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering on Pt (111) templates grown on rAl2O3 substrates, and the effects of growth parameters as well as the underlying Pt templates structural properties on the quality of STO films were studied. A comparison between room temp grown Pt and Pt grown at elevated temps showed that the latter lead to highly ordered Pt and STO films with quasi 2D surface roughness. Xray diffraction showed that the STO thin films had (111) and (222) crystal orientation. A rocking curve full width at half maximum value of 0.2{\deg} was achieved, indicating that the STO films are high-quality. The STO films have a roughness less than 1 nm, as measured using atomic force microscopy, comparable to the underlying Pt templates roughness.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Investigation on the temperature dependence of substrate-induced in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in Ni thin films grown on 128{\deg} Y-cut LiNbO3

We report the temperature dependence of the substrate-induced magnetic anisotropy in continuous Ni thin films deposited at room temperature using magnetron sputtering on a 128{\deg} Y-cut LiNbO3 substrate. Ultrathin films exhibit a pronounced temperature dependence in magnetization, with as-grown films showing isotropic behavior and an unconventional hysteresis branch crossing at relatively low temperatures, whereas no branch crossing is observed in annealed films over the investigated temperature range, indicating suppression of the underlying mechanism. Temperature-dependent magnetization measurements show that post-deposition annealing establishes uniaxial anisotropy with well-defined easy and hard axes, whose strength evolves with temperature due to the nature of residual strain governed by both lattice mismatch and coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch between the Ni film and the 128{\deg} Y-cut substrate, independent of film thickness for both 5 nm and 100 nm films. The emergence of this anisotropy following annealing indicates enhanced magnetoelastic coupling at the film-substrate interface, as the magnetic response begins to follow the anisotropic strain imposed by lattice mismatch and CTE mismatch.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗