Spin-polarized transport and magnetization reversal behavior of transition metal and half-metallic chromium dioxide thin films and multilayers

In recent years the interest in the properties of sub-micron ferromagnetic systems has been growing due to both their fundamental significance and practical applications in the fields of magnetic random access memory and magnetic sensing. In the thesis we have studied the magnetization reversal and spin-dependent transport behavior in transition-metal ferromagnets and half-metallic chromium dioxide films and heterostructures.; In the case of transition-metal ferromagnets we have investigated the contribution that thermal fluctuations make toward the reversal process of sub-micron patterned elements. We establish that the fluctuations are significant and as a result, that the switching is a stochastic process. Our conclusion is that the Neel-Arrhenius theory of thermally activated magnetic transitions adequately describes the observed behavior. Further, we have demonstrated that domain structure can have a drastic effect on critical “astroid” curves of transition metal micron- and sub-micron-size ferromagnetic films. For these studies, we used magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) as a tool for characterization, and we believe that this technique provides a useful method for investigation of the magnetic properties of patterned media.; Half-metals are a class of ferromagnets with 100% spin polarization. These materials show great promise for use in magnetoelectronic applications, such as MTJ-based memory and as magnetic sensors. We have perfected a fabrication technique for obtaining single-crystal epitaxial CrO₂ films with nearly complete spin polarization. We have analyzed the thickness dependence of electron transport and magnetic properties of CrO₂, and have established that the magnetic, transport and structural properties in these films are closely interrelated. We also report the results of our attempts to fabricate CrO₂-based MTJs.