Anisotropic Inverse Spin Hall Effect Observed in Sputtering Grown Topological Antiferromagnet Mn3Sn Films

Abstract

Recent theoretically predicted strong anisotropic spin Hall effect (SHE) or inverse SHE (ISHE) in chiral antiferromagnetic compounds Mn₃X (X = Ge, Sn, Ga, Ir, Rh, and Pt) could potentially expand the horizons of the antiferromagnet spintronics; however, it has not been experimentally observed yet. For achieving this goal, we have first successfully fabricated high-quality Kagome phase Mn₃Sn films with smooth surface by a combination of room-temperature magnetron sputtering and high-temperate annealing. These Mn₃Sn films were proved to be epitaxially grown on MgO (110) single crystal substrate with a seldom reported (\({1}{\text{0}}\stackrel{\text{-}}{1}{\text{0}}\)) orientation that could serve as a good platform for the studies of the crystalline orientation-related anisotropic phenomenon. Then, by employing spin pumping-induced inverse spin Hall effect (SP-ISHE) voltage measurements, we have experimentally proved the existence of crystalline orientation-related anisotropic ISHE with an amplitude of more than 35% in our Mn₃Sn films.