The magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 ͑LSMO͒ thin films on vicinal, TiO 2-terminated SrTiO 3 substrates is investigated. Atomic force microscopy shows a regular step-terrace structure on the LSMO surface which is a replication of the surface of the substrate. The films show in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy at room temperature, with the easy axis along the step direction. At low temperature the films show biaxial crystalline anisotropy with easy axes along ͓110͔, and hard axes along the ͓100͔ direction of LSMO.

We report on the fabrication and electrical characterization of epitaxial Schottky diodes of a half-metallic ferromagnet on an oxide semiconductor. La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 thin films are grown by pulsed laser deposition on niobium-doped SrTiO3 semiconductor substrates with two doping concentrations and a TiO2 surface termination. The current across the diodes is dominated by thermionic emission and shows high rectification and low reverse bias leakage. At room temperature, the Schottky barrier height is 0.95 eV (0.65 eV) and the ideality factor is 1.08 (1.18) for the diodes with a low (high) doped semiconductor. With decreasing temperature the Schottky barrier height decreases and the ideality factor increases.

We describe the factors that control the transfer ratio of the spin-valve transistor. An increase in transfer ratio is obtained by a systematic variation of the height of emitter and collector Schottky barrier, and of the nonmagnetic metals. Next, we found that in some cases, a thicker base leads to a higher transfer ratio. Finally, the thickness of the magnetic layers in the Ni80Fe20/Au/Co spin-valve base can be optimized for a maximum absolute change of collector current. An overall increase by a factor of 24 was achieved, without loss of the magnetocurrent.

Abstract:In this paper we demonstrate a compact ready-to-use micro Coriolis mass flow meter. The full scale flow is 1 g/h (for water at a pressure drop < 1 bar). It has a zero stability of 2 mg/h and an accuracy of 0.5% reading for both liquids and gases. The temperature drift between 10 and 50 °C is below 1 mg/h/°C. The meter is robust, has standard fluidic connections and can be read out by means of a PC or laptop via USB. Its performance was tested for several common gases (hydrogen, helium, nitrogen, argon and air) and liquids (water and isopropanol). As in all Coriolis mass flow meters, the meter is also able to measure the actual density of the medium flowing through the tube. The sensitivity of the measured density is ~1 Hz.m 3 /kg.

We have investigated the effects of modification of the SrTiO 3 / Co interface as well as the SrTiO 3 barrier on the tunnel magnetoresistance ͑TMR͒ of La 0.67 Sr 0.33 MnO 3 / SrTiO 3 / Co junctions. Modification was realized by the introduction of one atomic layer of either TiO 2 or SrO at the SrTiO 3 / Co interface. Barriers with different oxygen content were also studied. In these structures we have observed positive as well as negative TMR, with a trend towards positive TMR for junctions with interfacial SrO and/or more oxygen-deficient barriers. This work offers more insight into the SrTiO 3 / Co tunnel spin polarization and its sign.