Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/R50929/01
Title:	Plasma Source for the Optimisation of Iron Oxide Films for use in Magnetoresistive Devices
Principal Investigator:	Thornton, Professor G
Other Investigators:	Thomas, Dr MF Hill, Dr EW
Researcher Co-Investigators:	Dr F Schedin
Project Partners:
Department:	Chemistry
Organisation:	University of Manchester, The
Scheme:	Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts:	15 September 2001	Ends:	14 September 2003	Value (£):	17,625
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Materials Characterisation Materials Synthesis & Growth
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:	Electronics
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The ultimate aim is to achieve a spin valve structure with a high room temperature magnetoresistance (MR) at low field. Fe304 should be a very suitable material to achieve this due to its half metallicity, which theoretically offers an infinite MR ratio. Several other studies of (001) oriented films have, however, exhibited very small MR ratios due to a complicated magnetic structure at their interfaces. Here we propose spin valve structures based on (111) oriented Fe304 films with alpha-Fe203(0001) as the pinning layer. We will optimise the growth conditions for epitaxial Fe304 and alpha-Fe203 films on alpha-AI203(0001) substrates for high crystallographic quality and suitable physical and magnetic properties. The latter depend on the stoichiometry and include (for Fe304) the conductivity and surface spin-polarisation at room temperature. We have very recently discovered that the growth of highest quality epitaxial iron oxide films on alpha -A1203(0001) substrates requires the use of an oxygen plasma source, hence the reason for this equipment application. The exchange biasing fields due to our suggested pinning layer will be examined as a function of alpha-Fe203 and Fe304 film thicknesses with a view to finding a suitable pinning field. A search for a suitable nonmagnetic tunneling barrier will be initiated with studies of the thickness dependence of the magnetic coupling across epitaxial alpha -A1203(0001) layers. When optimised conditions have been found, we will fabricate spin valve structures and measure their magnetoresistive properties.
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Organisation Website:	http://www.man.ac.uk