Electric field control of magnetism in Ti/ZnO/Pt and Ti/ZnO/SRO devices

Abstract

We report electric field induced magnetic switching behaviours of un-doped ZnO films grown on Pt and SrRuO₃ (SRO) bottom electrodes. The coexistence of great resistive and magnetic switching was observed in both devices under an applied electric field, but the magnetic change is opposite in ZnO films grown on Pt and SRO electrodes. By fitting the current–voltage curves of the samples, we found that we could attribute the resistive switching behavior to filamentary conduction in the Ti/ZnO/Pt device and interfacial Schottky barrier effects in the Ti/ZnO/SRO device. The underlying mechanism for magnetic switching behavior of Ti/ZnO/Pt and Ti/ZnO/SRO devices is discussed based on their resistive switching mechanism. Our work suggests that the magnetic properties of un-doped ZnO films can be greatly altered by applying a small voltage.