Toward the Optimized Spintronic Response of Sn-Doped IrO2 Thin Films

Amorphous and polycrystalline Sn-doped IrO2 thin films, Ir1-xSnxO2, are grown for the first time. Their electrical response and strength of the spin-orbit coupling are studied in order to better understand and tailor its performance as spin current detector material. These experiments prove that the resistivity of IrO2 can be tuned over several orders of magnitude by controlling the doping content in both the amorphous and the polycrystalline state. In addition, growing amorphous samples increase the resistivity, thus improving the spin current to charge current conversion. As far as the spin-orbit coupling is concerned, the system not only remains in a strong spin-orbit coupling regime but it seems to undergo a slight enhancement in the amorphous state as well as in the Sn-doped samples.