Tunable Ferromagnetic Transition Temperature and Vertical Hysteretic Shift in SrRuO3 Films Integrated on Si(001)

SrRuO3 thin films have been epitaxially integrated on complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible Si(001) substrates via pulsed laser deposition using a unique buffer layer (SrTiO3/TiN) approach. When the oxygen pressure during deposition was controlled, a dramatic suppression in the ferromagnetic transition temperature (TC) of up to 53 K was observed, caused by the growth-induced ruthenium vacancies rather than the oxygen vacancies. The ruthenium vacancies can also effectively tune the vertical magnetization shift (Mshift) in hysteresis loops, and thus we achieved a giant Mshift of 240%. Transport and magnetic measurements reveal that these appreciable physical phenomena are closely related to the ruthenium defect-induced local disorder and complex effects due to the strongly hybridized p-d orbitals as well as the induced lattice distortion. These observations indicate the importance of ruthenium defects in controlling the vertical magnetization shift and ferromagnetic transition temperature in this transitional metal oxide.