Abstract
The effect of cation on the structure, magnetic and magnetotransport properties of epitaxial Fe3-xVxO4 (0 <= x <= 0.6) films fabricated by reactive cosputtering was investigated systematically. Four kinds of cations (Fe2+, Fe3+, V2+ and V3+) exist in the Fe3-xVxO4 films. The Fe3-xVxO4 films reveal semiconductingproperty and increased resistivity with increasing V content. The systematic change of the decreased saturation magnetization and enhanced exchange bias is closely related to the spin canting and antiferromagnetic coupling, which is caused by the V substitution on B sites. The presents of V2+ (3d(3)) enlarge the anisotropy, and further increase the coercivity. With the combined effects of the larger anisotropy, spin canting and enhanced antiferromagnetic coupling caused by V substitution, the Fe3-xVxO4 films exhibit enhanced four-fold symmetric anisotropic magnetoresistance. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.