Strain effects in epitaxial Mn2O3 thin film grown on MgO(100)

Abstract

We report on the epitaxial growth and magnetic properties of Mn 2O3 thin films grown on MgO(001) substrate by molecular beam epitaxy. We observed the reduction in binding energy of Mn valence states, the increase in satellite separation up to 12.7 eV, and the smaller band gap of 3.32 eV. In addition, the antiferromagnetic ordering below 90 K in bulk changed to ferrimagnetic up to 175 K. The results were possibly to be explained by a lattice mismatch strain on Mn2O3 film on MgO(001) substrate. © 2013 American Institute of Physics.