Temperature Dependence of Conduction and Magnetoresistance Properties in Co-TiO₂ Non-Uniform Nanocomposite Films

Co-TiO₂ materials have rich magnetic and electronic properties for advanced magnetoresistance (MR) sensing field. The non-uniform Co-TiO₂ nanocomposite films are prepared via magnetron sputtering. With substrate temperature increasing, the particles undergo agglomeration, and this non-uniform structure transits from the superparamagnetic-particle Co distribution to the particle-cluster Co distribution. Consequently, the MR decreases from 6% to 1%, owing to low resistivity. To investigate the electronic transport mechanism, the microstructural analysis and temperature-dependent fitting calculations of conduction and MR were investigated. In this study, non-uniform nanocomposite films with a broad particle size distribution were fabricated. With testing temperature decreasing, electron transport changes from higher order hopping to higher order cotunneling processes. The non-uniform films deposited at room temperature exhibited a negative MR up to 30% at 2 K, which was attributed to higher order cotunneling in the Coulomb blockade regime and explained by establishing a non-uniform multi-channel conduction model.