Magnetic Domain Texture in Fe 3 O 4 Thin Films on SiO 2 Nanospheres

Advanced Materials, vol. 38, pp. e13849

Abstract

Abstract Topographically complex interfaces offer a promising route to engineer magnetic textures in oxide thin films, with potential implications for next‐generation spintronic and neuromorphic devices. Here, Fe 3 O 4 thin films are grown on self‐assembled SiO 2 nanospheres to investigate how local curvature, together with polycrystalline morphology, influence magnetic behavior compared to flat films. STEM and GISANS confirm connected growth with preserved lateral ordering, while XMCD‐PEEM reveals in‐plane magnetic domains that extend across both nanosphere‐patterned and flat regions. Despite the low net magnetization of the Fe 3 O 4 caps, their domain orientations align with neighboring flat areas, indicating correlated domain behavior across structurally different regions. These findings demonstrate how nanoscale topography and morphology can be leveraged as design parameters to modulate magnetism in complex oxides.

Authors 12

1. Mai Hussein Hamed corresponding

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Helwan University

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

   Helwan University College of Science Cairo 4037120 Egypt

2. Yifan Xu

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 40225 Düsseldorf Germany

3. Hebatalla Elnaggar

   Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · Sorbonne Université · Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute of Mineralogy Physics of Materials and Cosmochemistry, CNRS Sorbonne University 4 Place Jussieu Paris 75005 France

   Institute of Mineralogy, Physics of Materials and Cosmochemistry, CNRS, Sorbonne University, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris, 75005 France

4. Antonio Massimiliano Mio

   National Research Council · Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems

   Affiliation as printed

   Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Strada VIII N. 5 Catania 95121 Italy

   Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Strada VIII N. 5, Catania, 95121 Italy

5. Annika Stellhorn

   European Spallation Source

   Affiliation as printed

   European Spallation Source ERIC Partikelgatan 2 Lund 224 84 Sweden

   European Spallation Source ERIC, Partikelgatan 2, Lund, 224 84 Sweden

6. V.d. Lima Aachen

   RWTH Aachen University · Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

   RWTH Aachen Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences 52074 Aachen Germany

7. Chenyang Yin

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

   Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 40225 Düsseldorf Germany

8. C. Bednarski-Meinke

   Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

   Affiliation as printed

   Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

9. Nina‐Juliane Steinke

   Institut Laue-Langevin

   Affiliation as printed

   Institut Laue‐Langevin 71 Avenue des Martyrs Grenoble Cedex 9 CS 20156 France

   Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, Grenoble Cedex 9, CS 20156 France

10. O. Petracic

    Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance · Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf

    Affiliation as printed

    Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany

    Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 40225 Düsseldorf Germany

11. Thomas Saerbeck

    Institut Laue-Langevin

    Affiliation as printed

    Institut Laue‐Langevin 71 Avenue des Martyrs Grenoble Cedex 9 CS 20156 France

    Institut Laue-Langevin, 71 Avenue des Martyrs, Grenoble Cedex 9, CS 20156 France

12. Asma Qdemat corresponding

    Forschungszentrum Jülich · Jülich Aachen Research Alliance

    Affiliation as printed

    Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH Jülich Centre for Neutron Science (JCNS‐2) JARA‐FIT 52425 Jülich Germany