Magnetoresistance and anomalous Hall effect of reactive sputtered polycrystalline Ti1 − xCrxN films

Abstract The reactive-sputtered polycrystalline Ti 1 −  x Cr x N films with 0.17 ≤  x  ≤ 0.51 are ferromagnetic and at x  = 0.47 the Curie temperature T C shows a maximum of ~ 120 K. The films are metallic at 0 ≤  x  ≤ 0.47, while the films with x  = 0.51 and 0.78 are semiconducting-like. The upturn of resistivity below 70 K observed in the films with 0.10 ≤  x  ≤ 0.47 is from the effects of the electron–electron interaction and weak localization. The negative magnetoresistance (MR) of the films with 0.10 ≤  x  ≤ 0.51 is dominated by the double-exchange interaction, while at x  = 0.78, MR is related to the localized magnetic moment scattering at the grain boundaries. The scaling ρ xy A / n  ∝  ρ xx 2.19 suggests that the anomalous Hall effect in the polycrystalline Ti 1 −  x Cr x N films is scattering-independent.