Interplay of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Interactions in Epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | Preprint |
| Publicado: |
2025
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| _version_ | 1866909950339448832 |
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| author | Dugu, Sita Mahatara, Sharad Regier, Corlyn E Neilson, James R Lany, Stephan Smaha, Rebecca W. Bauers, Sage R |
| author_facet | Dugu, Sita Mahatara, Sharad Regier, Corlyn E Neilson, James R Lany, Stephan Smaha, Rebecca W. Bauers, Sage R |
| contents | Antiperovskite nitrides with the general formula M$_3$N have attracted significant attention due to their tunable electronic and magnetic properties. Among them are many cobalt-based compounds predicted to exhibit high thermodynamic stability and intriguing magnetic behavior. Here, we report the synthesis and magnetic characterization of epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN thin films grown by radio frequency sputtering on SrTiO$_3$ (STO) and MgO substrates. X-ray diffraction confirms phase-pure (00l)-oriented films with cube-on-cube epitaxy on STO, with a c-lattice parameter of 3.752 angstroms. Magnetic measurements reveal clear hysteresis at 2 K with a coercive field of ~ 0.12 T and a small net moment of 0.11 $μ_B$/f.u., suggesting either a canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) or ferrimagnetic (FiM) configuration. Temperature-dependent magnetization measurements show a transition near 25 K, with strong AFM interactions (Curie-Weiss $Θ$ = -80.6 K) at high temperatures and short-range ferromagnetic correlations ($Θ$ = +9.7 K) emerging near the transition. Complementary density functional theory (DFT) and Monte Carlo simulations indicate a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state, with the FM-AFM energy difference decreasing systematically with increasing supercell size, consistent with competition between FM and AFM/FiM interactions. These results highlight Co$_3$ZnN as a magnetically complex antiperovskite nitride with competing exchange interactions. |
| format | Preprint |
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arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_06516 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Interplay of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Interactions in Epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN Dugu, Sita Mahatara, Sharad Regier, Corlyn E Neilson, James R Lany, Stephan Smaha, Rebecca W. Bauers, Sage R Materials Science Antiperovskite nitrides with the general formula M$_3$N have attracted significant attention due to their tunable electronic and magnetic properties. Among them are many cobalt-based compounds predicted to exhibit high thermodynamic stability and intriguing magnetic behavior. Here, we report the synthesis and magnetic characterization of epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN thin films grown by radio frequency sputtering on SrTiO$_3$ (STO) and MgO substrates. X-ray diffraction confirms phase-pure (00l)-oriented films with cube-on-cube epitaxy on STO, with a c-lattice parameter of 3.752 angstroms. Magnetic measurements reveal clear hysteresis at 2 K with a coercive field of ~ 0.12 T and a small net moment of 0.11 $μ_B$/f.u., suggesting either a canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) or ferrimagnetic (FiM) configuration. Temperature-dependent magnetization measurements show a transition near 25 K, with strong AFM interactions (Curie-Weiss $Θ$ = -80.6 K) at high temperatures and short-range ferromagnetic correlations ($Θ$ = +9.7 K) emerging near the transition. Complementary density functional theory (DFT) and Monte Carlo simulations indicate a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state, with the FM-AFM energy difference decreasing systematically with increasing supercell size, consistent with competition between FM and AFM/FiM interactions. These results highlight Co$_3$ZnN as a magnetically complex antiperovskite nitride with competing exchange interactions. |
| title | Interplay of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Interactions in Epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN |
| topic | Materials Science |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.06516 |