Substrate temperature dependence of chemical state and magnetoresistance characteristics of Co–TiO2 nanocomposite films

Co−TiO2 nanocomposite films were prepared via magnetron sputtering at various substrate temperatures. The films comprise Co particles dispersed in an amorphous TiO2 matrix and exhibit coexisting ferromagnetic and superparamagnetic properties. When the substrate temperature increases from room temperature to 400 °C, Co particles gradually grow, and the degree of Co oxidation significantly decreases. Consequently, the saturation magnetization increases from 0.13 to 0.43 T at the same Co content by increasing the substrate temperature from room temperature to 400 °C. At a high substrate temperature, conductive pathways form among some of the clustered Co particles. Thus, resistivity rapidly declines from 1600 to 76 μΩ·m. The magnetoresistive characteristic of Co−TiO2 films is achieved even at resistivity of as low as 76 μΩ·m. These results reveal that the obtained nanocomposite films have low Co oxidation, high magnetization and magnetoresistance at room temperature.