Electric and Magnetic Characterization of patterned La$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$/SrTiO$_{3}$/Si junctions using strained SrTiO$_{3}$ as a Ferroelectric Barrier.

Controlling a magnetic device via electrical means is a sought-after goal for technological devices and can be achieved through magnetoelectric coupling between ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials. We investigate such as possibility through a by epitaxially growing a magnetic oxide, La$_{0.6}$Sr$_{0.4}$MnO$_{3}$ (LSMO) as an active magnetic electrode on a ferroelectric oxide, strained SrTiO$_{3\, }$(STO) on Si. STO thin films grown on Si are compressively strained (1.7 {\%}) and can be ferroelectric at T$=$300 K when less than 5nm thick. LSMO is ferromagnetic up to 340 K (in bulk), has an in-plane crystal constant of $a=$0.3870 nm, and is closely lattice matched to STO ($a=$0.3905 nm) with a 0.9{\%} in-plane tensile strain. Since STO is compressively strained in Si, an even smaller lattice mismatch is expected between LSMO and STO/Si. We investigate the epitaxial growth of LSMO/STO/Si and electrical characteristics in a capacitor type structure fabricated using photolithography as a function of Temperature and Magnetic Field. Acknowledgements: Support by the NSF-Career grant, DMR-1255629, Hope College Frissel Research Fund, NSF-MRI Grant, CHE-1126462 is gratefully acknowledged.