Researchers explore Iron Nitride for flexible spintronics applications
Flexible spintronics is a fascinating pathway towards applications in wearable devices and sheet-type sensors. For miniaturized strain sensors exploiting spintronics, the magnetoelasticity linking magnetism and lattice distortion is a vital property. This requires not only materials with significant magnetoresistance effects but also control over their magnetoelastic properties.
A schematic image of the crystal structure of Fe4N. The iron nitride system was found to show both large magnetoresistance effects and tunable magnetoelastic properties. Image from: Communications Materials
Now, researchers from Tohoku University, National Institute for Materials Science, Kyushu University and Kyoto Institute of Technology have systematically studied the magnetoelastic properties of Fe4N and its substituted variants, Fe4-xMnxN and Fe4-yCoyN. These materials, composed of widely available elements, were examined for their potential in flexible spintronics.