Magnetostrictive properties in Fe4−xCoxN films: Insight from experiments and first-principles calculations
Abstract
The ferromagnetic nitride Fe4N has attracted attention for application in spintronic devices due to its high spin polarization and large magnetostriction. We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the magnetostriction of Fe4−xCoxN films across a wide composition range. The Fe4−xCoxN films were grown on SrTiO3(001) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy, and the magnetostriction constants along the [100] direction (λ100) and [111] direction (λ111) were precisely evaluated using an optical cantilever method. The experimental results reveal that λ111 remains positive in the whole composition range and shows a maximum value of +82 ppm around x = 0.9. The variation in λ111 with x is much smaller than that in λ100, for which giant tunability and sign reversal are observed. First-principles calculations show reasonable agreement with the experimental λ111 for x ≥ 1.6, but give negative values at lower x, and an exceptionally large negative λ111 is obtained at x = 0.8, where the Fermi level coincides with a pronounced minority-spin peak in the density of states. The calculated λ111 depends strongly on the smearing parameter, indicating that the rhombohedral magnetostriction is highly sensitive to the treatment of atomic disorder. The saturation magnetostriction constant (λs) derived from λ100 and λ111 is also compared with the λs measured for the (001)-oriented polycrystalline Fe4−xCoxN films, and a possible scenario for deviation between them is discussed. Our findings clarify the basic features of magnetostriction in the Fe4−xCoxN system, providing essential magnetoelastic parameters for designing nitride-based spintronic devices.
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BibTeX
@misc{yu2026magnetostrictive,
title = {{Magnetostrictive properties in Fe$_4-x$Co$_x$N films: Insight from experiments and first-principles calculations}},
author = {Huameng Yu and Keita Ito and Shoya Sakamoto and Ivan Kurniawan and Yoshio Miura and Yasushi Endo and Takeshi Seki},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.28864},
eprint = {2609.28864},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28864},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Magnetostrictive properties in Fe_4−xCo_xN films: Insight from experiments and first-principles calculations
AU - Huameng Yu
AU - Keita Ito
AU - Shoya Sakamoto
AU - Ivan Kurniawan
AU - Yoshio Miura
AU - Yasushi Endo
AU - Takeshi Seki
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.28864
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.28864
AB - The ferromagnetic nitride Fe_4N has attracted attention for application in spintronic devices due to its high spin polarization and large magnetostriction. We present a combined experimental and theoretical study on the magnetostriction of Fe_4−xCo_xN films across a wide composition range. The Fe_4−xCo_xN films were grown on SrTiO_3(001) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy, and the magnetostriction constants along the [100] direction (λ_100) and [111] direction (λ_111) were precisely evaluated using an optical cantilever method. The experimental results reveal that λ_111 remains positive in the whole composition range and shows a maximum value of +82 ppm around x = 0.9. The variation in λ_111 with x is much smaller than that in λ_100, for which giant tunability and sign reversal are observed. First-principles calculations show reasonable agreement with the experimental λ_111 for x ≥ 1.6, but give negative values at lower x, and an exceptionally large negative λ_111 is obtained at x = 0.8, where the Fermi level coincides with a pronounced minority-spin peak in the density of states. The calculated λ_111 depends strongly on the smearing parameter, indicating that the rhombohedral magnetostriction is highly sensitive to the treatment of atomic disorder. The saturation magnetostriction constant (λ_s) derived from λ_100 and λ_111 is also compared with the λ_s measured for the (001)-oriented polycrystalline Fe_4−xCo_xN films, and a possible scenario for deviation between them is discussed. Our findings clarify the basic features of magnetostriction in the Fe_4−xCo_xN system, providing essential magnetoelastic parameters for designing nitride-based spintronic devices.
ER -