Magnetic property and controlled growth of C-Plane oriented antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn thin film

Gian anomalous Hall effect has been recently reported in antiferromagnets with almost zero net magnetization. This work presents the structural and magnetic properties of noncollinear hexagonal antiferromagnetic Mn₃Sn thin films heteroepitaxial grown on MgO (111) substrates with a Ta capping layer. Co-sputtering techniques are used to prepare these samples. High-temperature annealing was done to get the crystallinity. The crystallographic orientations of Mn₃Sn were considerately affected by substrate and post-annealing temperature. XRD, XPS, and Raman measurements were conclusive for the prepared thin film. The Mn₃Sn films were crystallized with the c-axis preferred (0001) crystal orientation in the hexagonal D019 structure. The films were homogeneous chemically and continuously. To perform the magneto-transport measurements millimeter size Hall bar device is fabricated using a mask, not by using lithography and resist. The transport measurements have been done at different temperatures from T = 4 - 300K. The film showed weak ferromagnetism in-plane. Additionally, the exchange bias effect was studied in Mn₃Sn/Py bilayers. Exchange bias fields up to 10 mT can be achieved at 4 K. In antiferromagnetic spintronics applications, Mn₃Sn films are an appealing material.