Spin current generation from sputtered Y3Fe5O12 films

Spin current injection from sputtered yttrium iron garnet (YIG) films into an adjacent platinum layer has been investigated by means of the spin pumping and the spin Seebeck effects. Films with a thickness of 83 and 96 nanometers were fabricated by on-axis magnetron rf sputtering at room temperature and subsequent post-annealing. From the frequency dependence of the ferromagnetic resonance linewidth, the damping constant has been estimated to be (7.0 ± 1.0) × 10−4. Magnitudes of the spin current generated by the spin pumping and the spin Seebeck effect are of the same order as values for YIG films prepared by liquid phase epitaxy. The efficient spin current injection can be ascribed to a good YIG|Pt interface, which is confirmed by the large spin-mixing conductance (2.0 ± 0.2) × 1018 m−2.