Controlled magnetic anisotropy of SrRuO3 thin films grown on nominally exact SrTiO3(001) substrates

Ferromagnetic SrRuO3 films with controlled in-plane magnetic anisotropy have been deposited on nominally exact (miscut <0.1°) SrTiO3(001) substrates. Films grown on as-received substrates display in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy whereas films grown on treated TiO2-terminated surfaces are magnetically biaxial. It is found that the in-plane magnetic anisotropy is intimately linked to the in-plane crystallographic texture: whereas the former films are single domain, the latter are twinned. The authors show that the different textures are determined by the growth mechanisms, step flow or layer by layer, which in turn are critically determined by the substrate surface conditions.