Oxygen vacancy induced re-entrant spin glass behavior in multiferroic ErMnO(3) thin films

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of hexagonal ErMnO(3) fabricated on Pt(111)/Al(2)O(3)(0001) and yttria-stabilized zirconia(111) substrates exhibited both ferroelectric character and magnetic ordering at low temperatures. As the temperature was reduced, the ErMnO(3) films first showed antiferromagnetism. At lower temperatures, the films deposited at lower oxygen partial pressures exhibited spin glass behavior. This re-entrant spin glass behavior was attributed to competition between an antiferromagnetic interaction in the hexagonal geometry and a ferromagnetic interaction caused by a change in Mn valence induced by excess electrons from the oxygen vacancies. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics. [DOI: 10.1063/1.3006325]