Electrical detection of magnetic domain wall in Fe4N nanostrip by negative anisotropic magnetoresistance effect

The magnetic structure of the domain wall (DW) of a 30-nm-thick Fe4N epitaxial film with a negative spin polarization of the electrical conductivity is observed by magnetic force microscopy and is well explained by micromagnetic simulation. The Fe4N film is grown by molecular beam epitaxy on a SrTiO3(001) substrate and processed into arc-shaped ferromagnetic nanostrips 0.3 μm wide by electron beam lithography and reactive ion etching with Cl2 and BCl3 plasma. Two electrodes mounted approximately 12 μm apart on the nanostrip register an electrical resistance at 8 K. By changing the direction of an external magnetic field (0.2 T), the presence or absence of a DW positioned in the nanostrip between the two electrodes can be controlled. The resistance is increased by approximately 0.5 Ω when the DW is located between the electrodes, which signifies the negative anisotropic magnetoresistance effect of Fe4N. The electrical detection of the resistance change is an important step toward the electrical detection of current-induced DW motion in Fe4N