Magnetocapacitance at the Ni/BiInO 3 Schottky Interface.

We report the observation of a magnetocapacitance effect at the interface between Ni and epitaxial nonpolar BiInO 3 thin films at room temperature. A detailed surface study using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals the formation of an intermetallic Ni-Bi alloy at the Ni/BiInO 3 interface and a shift in the Bi 4f and In 3d core levels to higher binding energies with increasing Ni thickness. The latter infers band bending in BiInO 3 , corresponding to the formation of a p-type Schottky barrier. The current-voltage characteristics of the Ni/BiInO 3 /(Ba,Sr)RuO 3 /NdScO 3 (110) heterostructure show a significant dependence on the applied magnetic field and voltage cycling, which can be attributed to voltage-controlled band bending and spin-polarized charge accumulation in the vicinity of the Ni/BiInO 3 interface. The magnetocapacitance effect can be realized at room temperature without involving multiferroic materials.