Controlled chemical vapor deposition of a molecular magnet, vanadium tetracyanoethylene

We report the controlled chemical vapor deposition method of an organic-based magnet, vanadium tetracyanoethylene (V[TCNE]_x, x≈2) [1,2]. V[TCNE]_x is a promising candidate for applications in the fields of spintronics and magnonics and has been applied in photovoltaics, light-emitting diodes, and spin valves [3,4]. V[TCNE]_x magnetically orders above room temperature, T_c ~ 400 K. We discuss in detail the method of thin film deposition of V[TCNE]_x via tight control of the parameters in the low temperature (< 350 K) deposition process to achieve high purity films with good reproducibility. The properties of V[TCNE]_x films are confirmed by broad-band ferrimagnetic resonance (FMR) and spin pumping measurement by inverse spin-Hall effect (ISHE). [1] Harberts et al., JoVE. 10.3791/52891 (2015; [2] Froning et al., Applied Physics Letters 106, 122403 (2015). [3] Liu et al., Nature Mater 17, 308–312 (2018); [4] Liu et al., Adv. Mater., 32, 2002663 (2020).