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Coupling various functional properties in one material is always a challenge, more so if the material should be nanostructured for practical applications. Magnetism and high carrier mobility are key components for spintronic applications but rather difficult to bundle together. Here, we establish EuAl 2 Si 2 as a layered antiferromagnet supporting high carrier mobility. Its topotactic synthesis via a sacrificial two-dimensional template results in epitaxial nanoscale films on silicon. Their outstanding structural quality and atomically sharp interfaces are demonstrated by diffraction and microscopy techniques. EuAl 2 Si 2 films exhibit extreme magnetoresistance and a carrier mobility of above 10,000 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . The marriage of these properties and magnetism makes EuAl 2 Si 2 a promising spintronic material. Importantly, the seamless integration of EuAl 2 Si 2 with silicon technology is particularly appealing for applications.

Epitaxial thin films of L1 0 -ordered FePt alloys are one of the most important materials in magnetic recording and spintronics applications due to their large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). The key to the production of these required superior properties lies in the control of the growth mode of the films. Further, it is necessary to distinguish between the effect of lattice mismatch and surface free energy on the growth mode because of their strong correlation. In this study, the effect of surface free energy on the growth mode of FePt epitaxial films was investigated using MgO, NiO, and MgON surfaces with almost the same lattice constant to exclude the effect of lattice mismatch. It was found that the growth mode can be tuned from a three-dimensional (3D) island mode on MgO to a more two-dimensional (2D)-like mode on MgON and NiO. Contact angle measurements revealed that MgON and NiO show larger surface free energy than MgO, indicating that the difference in the growth mode is due to their larger surface free energy. In addition, MgON was found to induce not only a flat surface as FePt grown on SrTiO 3 (STO), which has a small lattice mismatch, but also a larger PMA than that of STO/FePt. As larger lattice mismatch is favored to induce a higher PMA into the FePt films, MgO substrates are exclusively used, but 3D island growth is indispensable. This work demonstrates that tuning the surface free energy enables us to achieve a large PMA and flat film surface in FePt epitaxial films on MgO. The results also indicate that modifying the surface free energy is pertinent for the flexible functional design of thin films.

Materials having an anisotropic crystal structure often exhibit anisotropy in the electrical conductivity. Compared to complex transition-metal oxides (TMOs), simple TMOs rarely show large anisotropic electrical conductivity due to their simple crystal structure. Here, we focus on the anisotropy in the electrical conductivity of a simple TMO, oxygen-deficient tungsten oxide (WO x ) with an anisotropic crystal structure. We fabricated several WO x films by the pulsed laser deposition technique on the lattice-matched (110)-oriented LaAlO 3 substrate under a controlled oxygen atmosphere. The crystallographic analyses of the WO x films revealed that highly dense atomic defect tunnels were aligned one-dimensionally (1D) along [001] LaAlO 3 . The electrical conductivity along the 1D atomic defect tunnels was ∼5 times larger than that across the tunnels. The present approach, introduction of 1D atomic defect tunnels, might be useful to design simple TMOs exhibiting anisotropic electrical conductivity.

Polarization-induced weak ferromagnetism (WFM) was demonstrated a few years back in LiNbO 3 -type compounds, MTiO 3 (M = Fe, Mn, Ni). Although the coexistence of ferroelectric polarization and ferromagnetism has been demonstrated in this rare multiferroic family before, first in bulk FeTiO 3 , then in thin-film NiTiO 3 , the coupling of the two order parameters has not been confirmed. Here, we report the stabilization of polar, ferromagnetic NiTiO 3 by oxide epitaxy on a LiNbO 3 substrate utilizing tensile strain and demonstrate the theoretically predicted coupling between its polarization and ferromagnetism by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism under applied fields. The experimentally observed direction of ferroic ordering in the film is supported by simulations using the phase-field approach. Our work validates symmetry-based criteria and first-principles calculations of the coexistence of ferroelectricity and WFM in MTiO 3 transition metal titanates crystallizing in the LiNbO 3 structure. It also demonstrates the applicability of epitaxial strain as a viable alternative to high-pressure crystal growth to stabilize metastable materials and a valuable tuning parameter to simultaneously control two ferroic order parameters to create a multiferroic. Multiferroic NiTiO 3 has potential applications in spintronics where ferroic switching is used, such as new four-stage memories and electromagnetic switches.