Electronic and magnetic transitions in perovskite SrRu1-xIrxO3 thin films

TL;DR

This study explores how substituting Ir for Ru in SrRuO3 thin films affects their electronic and magnetic properties, revealing transitions from ferromagnetic metal to insulator with spin-glass behavior at higher Ir concentrations.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the electronic and magnetic phase transitions in SrRu1-xIrxO3 thin films, highlighting the effects of Ir substitution on ferromagnetism and localization phenomena.

Findings

Films with x=0.25 show metal-insulator transition at 75 K.

Spin-glass-like ordering appears at 45 K in x=0.25 films.

Resistivity behavior varies with magnetic state and temperature.

Abstract

We have investigated the electronic and magnetic properties of perovskite SrRu1-xIrxO3 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition on atomically-flat (001) SrTiO3 substrates. SrRuO3 has the properties of a ferromagnetic metal with Curie temperature 150 K. Substituting Ir for Ru in SrRuO3, films showed fully-metallic behavior and ferromagnetic ordering, although resistivity increased and the ferromagnetic TC decreased. Films with x = 0.25 underwent the metal-to-insulator transition at 75 K, and spin-glass-like ordering at 45 K with the elimination of ferromagnetic long-range ordering caused by the electron localization at the substitution sites. In ferromagnetic films, resistivity increased near-linearly with T, but in paramagnetic film (x = 0.25) resistivity increased as T3/2. Moreover, observed spin-glass-like (TSG) ordering with the negative magnetoresistance in film with x = 0.25; validates the hypothesis that (Anderson) localization favors glassy ordering at amply disorder limit. These observations provide a promising approach for future applications and of fundamental interest in 4d and 5d mixed perovskites.