Exploring the intrinsic limit of the charge-carrier-induced increase of the Curie temperature of Lu- and La-doped EuO thin films

Abstract

Raising the Curie temperature TC of the highly spin-polarized semiconductor EuO by doping it with rare-earth elements is a strategy to make EuO more technologically relevant to spintronics. The increase of TC with free carrier density n and the surprisingly low dopant activation p, found in Gd-doped EuO thin films [Mairoser et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 257206 (2010)], raised the important question of whether TC could be considerably enhanced by increasing p. Using a low-temperature growth method for depositing high-quality Lu-doped EuO films we attain high dopant activation (p) values of up to 67%, effectively more than doubling p as compared to adsorption-controlled growth of Lu- and Gd-doped EuO. Relating n, p, and lattice compression of La- and Lu-doped EuO films grown at different temperatures to the TC of these samples allows us to identify several different mechanisms influencing TC and causing an experimental maximum in TC. In addition, scanning transmission electron microscopy in combination with electron energy loss spectroscopy measurements on La-doped EuO indicate that extensive dopant clustering is one, but not the sole reason for dopant deactivation in rare-earth doped EuO films.