The magnetic transition temperature tuned by strain in YMn0.9Ru0.1O3 thin films

Epitaxial orthorhombic YMn0.9Ru0.1O3 films with different thickness have been grown on (001)-SrTiO3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The crystal structure is well investigated by X-ray Diffraction. It is found that the out-of-plane parameter c slowly increases with decreasing thickness of samples because of the tensile strain between the films and substrates along c axis. The lengths of in-plane Mn-O bonds expand with the enhancement of strains, which is proved by Raman scatting. The magnetic measurements reveal that there exist two magnetic transition temperatures T-N1 and T-N2. The T-N1 is close to that of orthorhombic YMnO3 bulk. With decreasing thickness of the films, T-N1 keeps almost constant because of the small stain along c-axis. T-N2, however, obviously increases from 117 K to 134 K, which could be related to the expansion of in-plane Mn-O bonds. Results show that the magnetic transition temperature of YMn0.9Ru0.1O3 films can be sensitively manipulated by the strain of the films. (C) 2017 Author(s).