Suppression of ferromagnetism in rippled La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membrane with process-induced strain prepared by epitaxial lift-off technique

TL;DR

This study demonstrates how process-induced strain in rippled La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membranes, created via epitaxial lift-off, suppresses ferromagnetism and reduces the transition temperature, highlighting strain's role in tuning magnetic properties.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control ferromagnetism in transition metal oxides through ripple-induced strain using epitaxial lift-off, a novel approach for strain engineering.

Findings

Ripple structure induces tensile and compressive strains.

Macroscopic Curie temperature decreases by up to 27%.

Local Curie temperature varies with strain at convex and concave regions.

Abstract

Transition metal oxides are a platform for exploring strain-engineered intriguing physical properties and developing spintronic or flexible electronic functionalities owing to strong coupling of spin, charge and lattice degrees of freedom. In this study, we exemplify the strain-engineered magnetism of La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ in freestanding and rippled membrane forms without and with process-induced strain, respectively, prepared by epitaxial lift-off technique. We find that the deposition of Pt/Ti stressor suppresses the crack formation in the lift-off process and induces a ripple structure in the La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membrane. Laser micrograph and Raman spectroscopy show a ripple period of about 30 um and a height of a few um, where alternating convex and concave structures are subjected to tensile strain of 0.6% and compressive strain of 0.5%, respectively. While the freestanding La$_{2/3}$Sr$_{1/3}$MnO$_3$ membrane exhibits room-temperature ferromagnetism, the macroscopic magnetic transition temperature (TC) of the rippled membrane is reduced by as large as 27%. Temperature-variable Kerr microscopy observation in the rippled membrane reveals that the spatial variation of TC to be approximately 4% of the macroscopic TC, which coincides with the local strains at convex and concave structures. The large reduction of macroscopic TC in the rippled membrane may be ascribed to the lattice disorders due to strain gradient. Our demonstration of tuning ferromagnetism by the ripple structure validates the high potential of the process-induced strain in epitaxial lift-off technique and paves the way for strain-mediated emerging physical properties in various transition metal oxides.