Emergent Magnonic Materials: Challenges and Opportunities

Advances in information technology are hindered by energy dissipation from Joule losses associated with charge transport. In contrast, the process of information based on spin waves propagation (magnons) in magnetic materials is dissipationless. Low damping of spin wave excitations is essential to control the propagation length of magnons. Ferrimagnetic Y(3)Fe(5)O(12) garnets (YIG) exhibit the lowest magnetic damping constants. However, to attain the lowest damping constant, epitaxial growth of YIG on single crystal substrates of Gd(3)Ga(5)O(12) at elevated temperatures is required, which hinders their CMOS integration in electronic devices. Furthermore, their low saturation magnetization and magnetocrystalline anisotropy are challenging for nanoscale device applications. In the search for alternative material systems, polycrystalline ferromagnetic Co(25)Fe(75) alloy films and ferrimagnetic spinel ferrites, such as MgAl(0.5)Fe(1.5)O(4) (MAFO), have emerged as potential candidates. Their damping constants are comparable, although they are at least one order of magnitude higher than YIG’s. However, Co(25)Fe(75) alloy thin film growth is CMOS compatible, and its magnon diffusion length is 20× longer than in MAFO. In addition, MAFO requires epitaxial growth on lattice-matched MgAl(2)O(4) substrates. We discuss the material properties that control the Gilbert damping constant in Co(x)Fe(1−x) alloys and MAFO and conclude that Co(x)Fe(1−x) alloy thin films bring us closer to the realization of the exploitation of spin waves for magnonics.