Antiperovskite nitrides with the general formula M3N have attracted significant attention due to their tunable electronic and magnetic properties. Among them are many cobalt-based compounds predicted to exhibit high thermodynamic stability and intriguing magnetic behavior. Here, we report the synthesis and magnetic characterization of epitaxial Co3ZnN thin films grown by radio frequency sputtering on SrTiO3 (STO) and MgO substrates. X-ray diffraction confirms phase-pure (00l)-oriented films with cube-on-cube epitaxy on STO, with a c-lattice parameter of 3.752 angstroms. Magnetic measurements reveal clear hysteresis at 2 K with a coercive field of ~ 0.12 T and a small net moment of 0.11 μB/f.u., suggesting either a canted antiferromagnetic (AFM) or ferrimagnetic (FiM) configuration. Temperature-dependent magnetization measurements show a transition near 25 K, with strong AFM interactions (Curie-Weiss Θ = -80.6 K) at high temperatures and short-range ferromagnetic correlations (Θ = +9.7 K) emerging near the transition. Complementary density functional theory (DFT) and Monte Carlo simulations indicate a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state, with the FM-AFM energy difference decreasing systematically with increasing supercell size, consistent with competition between FM and AFM/FiM interactions. These results highlight Co3ZnN as a magnetically complex antiperovskite nitride with competing exchange interactions.
@article{arxiv.2512.06516,
title = {Interplay of Ferromagnetic and Antiferromagnetic Interactions in Epitaxial Co$_3$ZnN},
author = {Sita Dugu and Sharad Mahatara and Corlyn E Regier and James R Neilson and Stephan Lany and Rebecca W. Smaha and Sage R Bauers},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.06516},
year = {2025}
}