Inelastic neutron scattering study of low energy excitations in polymer thin films

We report inelastic neutron scattering measurements on polystyrene thin films in a glassy state in the meV region. We found in elastic scattering that the mean square displacement decreased with film thickness, and hence the corresponding force constant f increased. In inelastic and quasielastic scattering, we observed the so-called boson peak at around 1.5 meV and the picosecond fast process for the first time in thin films, both of which decreased in intensity with film thickness. These results were discussed in terms of the potential hardening due to the confinement of polymer chains and/or the interfacial dead layer.     

引入纳米氧化层的CoFe/Pd双层膜结构中增强的垂直磁各向异性研究

制备了CoFe/Pd双层结构的界面处或CoFe层 内部引入纳米氧化层后的系列薄膜. 研究结果显示, 引入纳米氧化层后, 可以使薄膜的磁各向异性在退火后从面内转到垂直膜面方向. 并且对于在CoFe层内部引入纳米氧化层的这类样品, 其强烈的垂直磁性可以在相当宽的有效磁性层厚度范围内(1.2-2 nm)维持. 在保持垂直磁性的前提下, 这种特殊的双层膜结构中CoFe磁性层厚度比常规CoFe/Pd 多层膜中的CoFe层厚度至少多出1.4 nm. 本文的研究有助于制备出具有较高热稳定性的垂直磁性器件电极.     

Time series of ac conductivities of terbium nitrate crystals at low temperatures

Time series of ac conductivities are measured at 2 kHz along three crystal directions in terbium nitrate crystal below 50 K. The anisotropy is found in the structure of the fluctuation observed in the time series of the conductivities. The bursts with non-periodic oscillations are found in only the measurements of the time series of the ac conductivities for one direction perpendicular to the c-axis (c2-axis). The anisotropy is seen in probability distribution functions and power spectral ones derived from the time series of the conductivities. The characteristic behaviors are found in the time series of the conductivity for the one crystal direction perpendicular to the c-axis. Asymmetric non-Gaussian line shape of the probability distribution function is seen for the c2-axis. Chaotic behavior is also found in the function of the correlation exponent to the embedding dimension derived from the time series of the conductivities.     

单轴[110]应力硅电子迁移率

基于k·p微扰法研究单轴[110]应力作用下硅的导带结构,获得单轴[110]应力硅的导带底能量及电子有效质量.在此基础上,考虑电子谷间、谷内及电离杂质散射,采用弛豫时间近似计算单轴[110]应力硅沿不同晶向的电子迁移率.结果表明：单轴[110]应力作用下硅的电子迁移率具有明显的各向异性.在[001]、[110]及[110]输运晶向中,张应力作用下电子沿[110]晶向输运时迁移率有较大的增强,由未受应力时的1 450 cm²·Vs^-1提高到2 GPa应力作用下的2 500 cm²·Vs^-1.迁移率增强的主要原因是电子有效质量的减小,而应力作用下硅导带能谷分裂导致的谷间散射几率的减小对电子迁移率的影响并不显著.     

Interface coupling transition in a thin epitaxial antiferromagnetic film interacting with a ferromagnetic substrate

We report experimental evidence for a transition in the interface coupling between an antiferromagnetic film and a ferromagnetic substrate. The transition is observed in a thin epitaxial NiO film grown on top of Fe(001) as the film thickness is increased. Photoemission electron microscopy excited with linearly polarized x rays shows that the NiO film is antiferromagnetic at room temperature with in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The anisotropy axis is perpendicular to the Fe substrate magnetization when the NiO thickness is less than about 15 A, but rapidly becomes parallel to the Fe magnetization for a NiO coverage higher than 25 A.     

AlN插入层对AlxGa1-xN/GaN界面电子散射的影响

本文研究AlN作为Al_xGa_1-xN/GaN插入层引起的电子输运性质的变化, 考虑了Al_xGa_1-xN和AlN势垒层的自发极化、压电极化对Al_xGa_1-xN/AlN/GaN双异质结高电子迁移率晶体管(HEMT)中极化电荷面密度、二维电子气(2DEG) 浓度的影响, 分析了AlN厚度与界面粗糙度散射和合金无序散射的关系; 结果表明, 2DEG 浓度、界面粗糙度散射和合金无序散射依赖于AlN层厚度, 插入一层1–3 nm薄的AlN层, 可以明显提高电子迁移率.     

Investigation of interface roughness cross-correlation properties of optical thin films from total scattering losses

The interface roughness and interface roughness cross-correlation properties affect the scattering losses of high-quality optical thin films. In this paper, the theoretical models of light scattering induced by surface and interface roughness of optical thin films are concisely presented. Furthermore, influence of interface roughness cross-correlation properties to light scattering is analyzed by total scattering losses. Moreover, single-layer TiO₂ thin film thickness, substrate roughness of K9 glass and ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) technique effect on interface roughness cross-correlation properties are studied by experiments, respectively. A 17-layer dielectric quarter-wave high reflection multilayer is analyzed by total scattering losses. The results show that the interface roughness cross-correlation properties depend on TiO₂ thin film thickness, substrate roughness and deposition technique. The interface roughness cross-correlation properties decrease with the increase of film thickness or the decrease of substrates roughness. Furthermore, ion beam assisted deposition technique can increase the interface roughness cross-correlation properties of optical thin films. The measured total scattering losses of 17-layer dielectric quarter-wave high reflection multilayer deposited with IBAD indicate that completely correlated interface model can be observed, when substrate roughness is about 2.84 nm.     

Magnetic properties and structure of FePt/FeMn multilayers

A systematic study of the magnetic properties by ion beam sputter-deposition system, was conducted in conjunction with the structure of FePt/FeMn multilayers fabricated onto MgO(0 0 1) substrates. Both parallel and perpendicular exchange biases were observed in the multilayers and were found to decrease drastically, as the deposition temperature is higher than 350 °C, which is evidently due to the interdiffusion at the interface. The thickness dependence study shows that the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy observed in the multilayers originates from surface anisotropy, being consistent with the decrease of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy as the deposition temperature is increased. The difference between parallel and perpendicular blocking temperatures that was clearly observed, is possibly due to the spin canting out of plane at the interface.     

Numerical simulation of magnetization process in antiferromagnetic–ferromagnetic bilayer with compensated interface

The properties of antiferromagnetic (AFM)–ferromagnetic (FM) bilayer have been studied using self-consistent mean-field approximation for Heisenberg Hamiltonian. The perpendicular exchange coupling has been revealed in a bilayer with a compensated interface. For a uniform AFM film a symmetrical hysteresis loop has been calculated, because the transverse instability develops within the AFM film at certain critical value of external magnetic field. On the other hand, shifted hysteresis loop with a finite exchange bias field has been obtained for a non-uniform AFM film consisting of various AFM domains with perpendicular directions of the easy anisotropy axes.     

Magnetization reorientation in Ni (1 1 1) ultrathin films studied by low-temperature hysteresis measurements

Surface magneto-optical Kerr effect (SMOKE) magnetometry in the temperature range 10–300 K was exploited to investigate the magnetic properties of high-quality Cu/Ni/Cu/Si(1 1 1) epitaxial heterostructures with thickness of the Ni layer, d_Ni, between 10 and 60 Å. For a fixed temperature, the equilibrium direction of the magnetization is parallel or perpendicular to the film surface, depending on the Ni thickness, because of the competition among shape anisotropy, magnetoelastic anisotropy and interface anisotropy. No reorientation of the magnetization could be observed as a function of temperature, for any of the specimens analyzed, while a large variation of the loop squareness and coercivity was found. This last variation has been qualitatively explained using a theoretical model based on a Green's function technique, valid for a monodomain film with a coherent rotation of the magnetization.     

Full X-ray pattern analysis of vacuum deposited pentacene thin films

Pentacene thin films with thicknesses ranging from 10 nm to 180 nm are investigated by specular X-ray diffraction in the reflectivity regime and in the wide angular regime. The results of the reflectivity measurements show a clear shift of the 001 reflection of the thin film phase depending on the layer thickness. It is shown that this shift can be explained by the dynamical scattering theory. The wide angular regime measurements show the 00L of the thin film phase. Williams-Hall plots are used to extract information on the crystallite size and mean micro strain of the thin film phase. The crystallite size is in good agreement with the results obtained by the reflectivity measurements. From this it can be concluded that the thin film phase crystallites are extended over the entire film thickness down to the substrate. Additionally an increase of the micro strain with increasing film thickness is observed.     

Nucleation field, hysteresis loop, coercivity mechanism and critical thickness in composite multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy

Analytical expression for the nucleation field has been derived for a hard/soft multilayer system with anisotropy perpendicular to the film plane, which depends on the soft thickness L^s, the interface exchange coupling constant Jⁱ and the intrinsic material parameters. Both nucleation field and coercivity decrease as L^s increases. For very small L^s, the coercivity mechanism is pure nucleation and the hysteresis loops are square. As L^s rises, the coercivity mechanism changes from nucleation to pinning gradually, where the hysteresis loops have to be calculated numerically. The critical thickness at which the mechanism varies has been discussed in detail on the basis of easy axis orientation and the interface exchange coupling constant.     

正交各向异性双层交换弹簧薄膜的磁矩分布

本文以Pt_(84)Co_(16)/TbFeCo双层交换弹簧体系为研究对象,利用微磁学连续模型,研究了软/硬磁层易轴方向相互垂直的新型体系中磁矩的分布特征.研究结果表明,磁矩偏离薄膜法线方向的角度在软磁层中沿膜厚方向的变化速率比硬磁层中的快.通过调节软磁层参数来增加软/硬磁的各向异性常数比、交换能常数比、饱和磁化强度比或外磁场强度,都可有效改变磁矩偏角在软/硬磁层中的变化速率.特别是当软/硬磁各向异性常数比值和交换能常数比值同时增大时,可以使得磁矩在硬磁层中的变化速率快于软磁层中的.而饱和磁化强度比值对磁矩变化速率的影响源于饱和磁化强度的变化会相应地改变各向异性常数,进而改变磁矩在软/硬磁层中磁矩方向变化速率的比值.此体系的磁滞回线显示磁性参数的改变可以显著改变体系的剩磁及饱和磁场.软磁层中的退磁场能及体系的正交各向异性可导致负的成核场.     

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin FeCo alloy films on Pd(0 0 1) surface: First principles study

Using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method, thickness dependent magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin FeCo alloy films in the range of 1 monolayer (ML) to 5 ML coverage on Pd(0 0 1) surface has been explored. We have found that the FeCo alloy films have close to half metallic state and well-known surface enhancement in thin film magnetism is observed in Fe atom, whereas the Co has rather stable magnetic moment. However, the largest magnetic moment in Fe and Co is found at 1 ML thickness. Interestingly, it has been observed that the interface magnetic moments of Fe and Co are almost the same as those of surface elements. The similar trend exists in orbital magnetic moment. This indicates that the strong hybridization between interface FeCo alloy and Pd gives rise to the large magnetic moment. Theoretically calculated magnetic anisotropy shows that the 1 ML FeCo alloy has in-plane magnetization, but the spin reorientation transition (SRT) from in-plane to perpendicular magnetization is observed above 2 ML thickness with huge magnetic anisotropy energy. The maximum magnetic anisotropy energy for perpendicular magnetization is as large as 0.3 meV/atom at 3 ML film thickness with saturation magnetization of . Besides, the calculated X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) has been presented.     

Magnetization reversal in perpendicular exchange-biased multilayers

Co/Pt multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy exhibit an exchange bias when covered with an IrMn layer. The exchange bias field, which is about 7 mT for 3 Co/Pt bilayer repetitions and a Co layer thickness of 5 Å, can be increased up to 16.5 mT by the insertion of a thin Pt layer at the Co/IrMn interface. The interfacial magnetic anisotropy of the Co/IrMn interface (KSCo/IrMn =-0.09 mJ/m2) favours in-plane magnetization and tends to tilt the Co spins away from the film normal. Dynamical measurements of the magnetization reversal process reveal that both thermally activated spin reversal in the IrMn layer and domain wall nucleation in the Co/Pt multilayer influence the interfacial spin structure and therefore the strength of the perpendicular exchange bias field.     

Ferrimagnetic resonance spectra of magnetic bubble films at low microwave frequencies

Magnetic bubble films exhibit a number of ferrimagnetic resonance modes due to the spatial variation of the anisotropy. The resonance frequencies have been measured as a function of the applied bias fieldH ₀. In the lower field range the magnetization of the transient layer, which has negative anisotropy, is not yet parallel toH ₀. In this range the resonance frequencies are shifted to higher values due to pinning effects. In films grown by the vertical dipping method an additional layer on top of the transient layer is observed within which the magnetization rotates from the direction in the transient layer to that of the bulk of the film. In films grown by horizontal dipping no such layer could be detected. Each ferrimagnetic resonance mode excites transverse elastic waves in the film due to the magnetoelastic interaction and thus gives rise to elastic resonances of the whole crystal, film and substrate. These elastic resonances lead to a fine-structure of the ferrimagnetic resonances. The observed fine-structure vanishes periodically with frequency and from this behaviour the thickness of the magnetic film and of the transient layer has been determined.     

垂直各向异性Ho3Fe5O12薄膜的外延生长与其异质结构的自旋输运

垂直磁各向异性稀土-铁-石榴石纳米薄膜在自旋电子学中具有重要应用前景.本文使用溅射方法在(111)取向掺杂钇钪的钆镓石榴石(Gd_0.63Y_2.37Sc₂Ga₃O₁₂,GYSGG)单晶衬底上外延生长了2—100 nm厚的钬铁石榴石(Ho₃Fe₅O₁₂,HoIG)薄膜,并进一步在HoIG上沉积了3 nm Pt薄膜.测量了室温下HoIG的磁各向异性和HoIG/Pt异质结构的自旋相关输运性质.结果显示,厚度薄至2 nm的HoIG薄膜(小于2个单胞层)在室温仍具有铁磁性,且由于外延应变,2—60 nm厚HoIG薄膜都具有很强的垂直磁各向异性,有效垂直各向异性场最大达350 mT;异质结构样品表现出非常可观的反常霍尔效应和“自旋霍尔/各向异性”磁电阻效应,前者在HoIG厚度小于4 nm时开始缓慢下降,而后者当HoIG厚度小于7 nm时急剧减小,说明相较于反常霍尔效应,磁电阻效应对HoIG的体磁性相对更加敏感;此外,自旋相关热电压随HoIG厚度减薄在整个厚度范围以指数方式下降,说明遵从热激化磁振子运动规律的自旋塞贝克效应是其主要贡献者.本文结果表明HoIG纳米薄膜具有可调控的垂直磁各向异性,厚度大于4 nm的HoIG/Pt异质结构具有高效的自旋界面交换作用,是自旋电子学应用发展的一个重要候选材料.     

Investigation of ferromagnetic resonance and damping properties of CoFeB

In this study, the influences of thin film thickness and post-annealing process on the magnetic properties of CoFeB thin films were investigated. The angular dependency and linewidth of the ferromagnetic resonance signal were used to explore the magnetic behavior of sputtered single-layer and trilayer thin film stacks of CoFeB. A micromagnetic simulation model was employed based on the metropolis algorithm comprising the demagnetizing field and in-plane induced uniaxial anisotropy terms with all relevant contributions. Our results reveal that the direction of magnetization changes from in-plane to out-of-plane as a result of the annealing process and induces a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in the 1-nm thick CoFeB thin film. The ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) linewidth can be defined well by the intrinsic Gilbert damping effect and the magnetic inhomogeneity contribution in both as-grown and annealed samples. The difference between the linewidths of the single and trilayer film is mainly caused by the spin pumping effect on damping which is associated with the interface layers.     

Magnetic anisotropy of Fe films on GaAs(113)A substrates

We employ superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry to study the thickness dependence of in-plane and out-of-plane magnetic anisotropic properties of Fe films grown on high-index GaAs(113)A substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. The evolution of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy with film thickness is distinguished into two regions. First, for Fe film thicknesses ≤50 MLs, we observe an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis along the in-plane 〈332̄〉 axes. Second, for Fe film thicknesses ≥70 MLs, we observe a four-fold magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis along the in-plane 〈031̄〉 axes. The existence of an out-of-plane perpendicular magnetic anisotropy is also detected in ultrathin Fe films. Similar to Fe on GaAs(001), our results provide evidence for the interfacial origin of the in-plane uniaxial and out-of-plane perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Both the uniaxial and the perpendicular interface anisotropy are found to be independent of the epitaxial orientation and are hence an intrinsic property of the Fe/GaAs interface. PACS 75.70.-i; 75.50.Bb; 81.15.Hi     

Parameters of the transition layer in the exchange-biased NiFe/DyCo film structure

The parameters of the transition layer in exchange-biased film structures are necessary agents to understand the mechanism of formation of unidirectional anisotropy. The layer thickness in NiFe/DyCo films has been determined by comparison of signals of the polar magneto-optical Kerr effect from a reference DyCo film and a hard magnetic layer of the exchange-biased structure. The layer thickness obtained is one order of magnitude larger than that characteristic of ferromagnet-antiferromagnet bilayer films. The mechanism of magnetization reversal of the structure under study has been explained within the model suggesting the formation of 180° boundaries in the interface.