Dynamical properties of thin ferromagnetic semiconducting films

A Green's function technique is used to investigate the temperature dependence of the spin-wave energies of ferromagnetic semiconducting thin films including the damping effects. It is shown that the frequencies of thin ferromagnetic films are smaller, whereas the damping effects are larger compared to the bulk.     

Simulation of thickness dependence in ferroelectric thin films

The thickness dependence of coercive field (E_C) and remanent polarization (P_r) in ferroelectric thin films has been numerically simulated using a two-dimensional four-state Potts model. In this model, each of the dipoles in the film is assigned to one of the four states corresponding to the four different mutually perpendicular orientations. Neighboring dipoles with the same orientation are then grouped together to form a domain. Four different kinds of domains exist. In the presence of the surface layer near the electrode/film interface, the thickness dependence of both coercive field and remanent polarization are simulated.     

Magnetic anisotropy in thin ferromagnetic films

The magnetic properties of thin ferromagnetic films are studied taking into account the magnetic anisotropy term in the Hamiltonian. In the second approximation equations are obtained for the magnetization of the monatomic layers parallel to the surface of the thin film. From these equations one obtains the Curie temperature, which depends on the thickness of the thin film and the ratio a between the anisotropy constant and the exchange energy between two neighbours. A value can be chosen for such that the thin film becomes ferromagnetic only for a thickness greater than a definite value and in this manner the theoretical results can be fitted to the experimental data. The situation in cobalt thin films is dealt with in particular.

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The author extends his thanks to the research workers of CIFA 1 as well as to Dr. L. Valenta for information on the same subject.     

Optical properties of semiconducting iron disilicide thin films

The iron silicides samples were prepared by annealing of iron films evaporated onto silicon wafers and capped with amorphous silicon thin overlayers. Semiconducting FeSi₂ phase is formed by annealing at the temperatures from 550°C to 850°C. The optical properties of the FeSi₂ layers have been deduced from reflectance and transmittance measurements carried out in the temperature range of (77–380) K. The spectral dependence of the absorption coefficient favours direct allowed transitions with forbidden energy gap of 0.87eV at the room temperature. The application of a simple three-parameter semiempirical formula to the temperature dependence of the direct energy gaps leads to the following best fit parameters: the band gap at zero temperature E _g (0) = (0.895 ± 0.004)eV, the dimensionless coupling parameter S = 2.0 ± 0.3, and the average phonon energy <hw> = (46 ± 8)meV. By examining all the reported triplets of parameters for -FeSi₂ fabricated by different techniques and thermal processes, an obvious discrepancy can be found for the lattice coupling parameter and average phonon energy, although the bandgaps at 0 K are very similar. Unlike the theoretical prediction and the earlier reported result, our results do not show any evidence of a particularly strong electron-phonon interaction, which would give the lower carrier mobilities. -FeSi₂ seems to be an intriguing material where states with energies near the band edges permit ambiguous interpretation of the character of transitions. From optical model for the thin film-substrate system we found the index of refraction to be (5–5.9) in the photon energy interval from 0.65 to 1.15eV. There is also indication of an additional higher-energy absorption edge at l.05eV.     

Anomalous properties of thin films of ferromagnetic superconductors

Anomalous magnetic and superconducting behavior which originates from the electromagnetic interaction between the persistent current and the rare earth magnetic moments is theoretically predicted in thin films of ferromagnetic superconductors. It is shown that the ferromagnetic ordering can coexist with superconductivity for films of thickness smaller than the London penetration depth. The ferromagnetic phase transition is of the second order and its critical temperature depends on the thickness of the film.     

Preparation of ferromagnetic semiconducting HgCr2Se4 thin films by molecular-beam deposition

Summary Polycrystalline thin films of the ferromagnetic semiconductor HgCr₂Se₄ have been prepared for the first time on insulating MgAl₂O₄ single-crystal substrates by molecular-beam deposition and subsequent annealing with HgSe. The optimum conditions for preparing single-phase thin films of HgCr₂Se₄ were obtained. The magnetoresistance and Hall effects of these films were measured from 77 to 295 K in magnetic fields up to 1.19·10⁶ A/m. It becomes evident that these electrical properties of the films are affected by the interdiffusion layers in the films near the substrates or the magnetically disordered layers such as amorphous or grain boundaries in the films. Paper presented at the ?V International Conference on Ternary and Multinary Compounds?, held in Cagliari, September 14–16, 1982.     

Many-body Green's function theory for the magnetic reorientation of thin ferromagnetic films

The field-induced reorientation of the magnetization of ferromagnetic films is treated within the framework of many-body Green's function theory by considering all components of the magnetization. We present a new method for the calculation of expectation values in terms of the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the equations of motion matrix for the set of Green's functions. This formulation allows a straightforward extension of the monolayer case to thin films with many layers and for arbitrary spin and moreover provides a practicable procedure for numerical computation. The model Hamiltonian includes a Heisenberg term, an external magnetic field, a second-order uniaxial single-ion anisotropy, and the magnetic dipole-dipole coupling. We utilize the Tyablikov (RPA) decoupling for the exchange interaction terms and the Anderson-Callen decoupling for the anisotropy terms. The dipole coupling is treated in the mean-field approximation, a procedure which we demonstrate to be a sufficiently good approximation for realistic coupling strengths. We apply the new method to monolayers with spin and to multilayer systems with S=1. We compare some of our results to those where mean-field theory (MFT) is applied to all interactions, pointing out some significant differences. Received 19 June 2000 and Received in final form 2 August 2000     

Low field wall mobility in thin conducting ferromagnetic films

The factors which may determine the low field domain wall mobility in thin ferromagnetic films of nickel iron are reconsidered in the light of recent experimental and theoretical work which has been published.     

Epitaxial ferromagnetic thin films and heterostructures of Mn-based metallic and semiconducting compounds on GaAs

We present two approaches to integrate magnetic materials with III–V semiconductors. One is epitaxial ferromagnetic metallic films and heterostructures on GaAs (0 0 1) substrates. Although crystal structure, lattice constant, chemical bonding and other properties are dissimilar, ferromagnetic hexagonal MnAs thin films and MnAs/NiAs ferromagnet/nonmagnet heterostructures (HSs) are grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). Multi-stepped magnetic hysteresis are controllably realized in MnAs/NiAs HSs, making this material promising for the application to multi-level nonvolatile recording on semiconductors. The other approach is to prepare a new class of GaAs based magnetic semiconductor, GaMnAs, by low-temperature molecular beam epitaxy (LT-MBE) on GaAs (0 0 1). New III–V based superlattices consisting of ferromagnetic semiconductor GaMnAs and nonmagnetic semiconductor AlAs are also successfully grown. Structural and magnetic properties of these new heterostructures are presented.     

Insulated-ceystal method for measuring electrical properties of thin semiconducting films

Procedure and apparatus are described for measuring the resistivity, free-charge density, and free-charge mobility in thin semiconducting films. The method is based on the dependence of the power transmitted to a microwave transmission line on the density and mobility of free charge in a semiconductor in the line insulated from electrodes on both sides by dielectric layers. Experimental results are reported.Translated from Izvestiya VUZ. Fizika, No. 5, pp. 105–109, May, 1971.     

Phase transition properties of ferroelectric thin films with two surface layers

The phase diagrams of ferroelectric thin films with two surface layers described by the transverse Ising model have been studied under the mean-field approximation. We discuss the effects of the exchange interaction and transverse field parameters on the phase diagrams. The results indicate that the phase transition properties of the phase diagrams can be greatly modified by changing the transverse Ising model parameters. In addition, the crossover features of the parameters from the ferroelectric dominant phase diagram to the paraelectric dominant phase diagram are determined for ferroelectric thin films with two surface layers.     

Magnetic properties of oblique-evaporated Co-Ni thin films

Co_{1 - x}Ni_x (x = 0, 0.2 and 0.3) thin films of thickness about 1500 Å were electron-beam evaporated onto silicon and polymide substrates at various oblique angles . In-plane coercivities and squareness ratios both along and transverse to the incidence plane were examined. Also, the angular variations of coercivity of films prepared at = 0 ° to 85 ° were investigated. The magnetic anisotropy changes from an in-plane anisotropy with the easy axis perpendicular to the incidence plane to an out-of-plane anisotropy parallel to the incidence plane, the transition occuring at about 60 °. Also discussed is the effect of the substrate temperature on the magnetic properties and columnar microstructure of the oblique-evaporated films. At room temperature, there is a small drop in coercivity at = 60 ° before a sharp rise in coercivities to 1400 Oe as the oblique angle increases.     

Magnetic properties of field-annealed FeCo thin films

Fe₅₀Co₅₀ thin films with thickness of 30 and 4 nm have been produced by rf sputtering on glass substrates, and their surface has been observed with atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM); MFM images reveal a non-null component of the magnetization perpendicular to the film plane. Selected samples have been annealed in vacuum at temperatures of 300 and 350 °C for times between 20 and 120 min, under a static magnetic field of 100 Oe. DC hysteresis loops have been measured with an alternating gradient force magnetometer (AGFM) along the direction of the field applied during annealing and orthogonally to it. Samples with a thickness of 4 nm display lower coercive fields with respect to the 30 nm thick ones. Longer annealing times affect the development of a harder magnetic phase more oriented off the film plane. The field applied during annealing induces a moderate magnetic anisotropy only on 30 nm thick films.     

Magnetic properties of the bond and crystal field dilution Blume-Emery-Griffiths model in the presence of magnetic field

The magnetic properties of the spin-1 bond and crystal field dilution Blume-Emery-Griffiths (BEG) model in the presence of magnetic field are investigated on a simple cubic lattice by using effective field theory (EFT). In the M-H plane, the common action of bond and crystal field dilution leads to the exhibition of an irregular initial magnetization curve and slows down the magnetization process. The peak of the susceptibility curve has an explicit decline and shows a distinct shift toward the direction of increase of magnetic field. On the other hand, in the M-T plane, the magnetization curves show a discontinuity and a vertical leap in the small range of magnetic field when the negative crystal field is larger and the ratio of biquadratic and exchange interaction is positive (α>0). These results have not been revealed in previous works.     

Low temperature ferromagnetic properties of CdS and CdTe thin films

The magnetic property in a material is induced by the unpaired electrons. This can occur due to defect states which can enhance the magnetic moment and the spin polarization. In this report, CdS and CdTe thin films are grown on FTO glass substrates by chemical bath deposition and close-spaced sublimation, respectively. The magnetic properties, which are introduced from oxygen states, are found in CdS and CdTe thin films. From the hysteresis loop of magnetic moment it is revealed that CdS and CdTe thin films have different kinds of magnetic moments at different temperatures. The M–H curves indicate that from 100 K to 350 K, CdS and CdTe thin films show paramagnetism and diamagnetism, respectively.A superparamagnetic or a weakly ferromagnetic response is found at 5 K. It is also observed from ZFC/FC curves that magnetic moments decrease with temperature increasing. Spin polarized density functional calculation for spin magnetic moment is also carried out.     

Thickness dependence of the Curie temperature and critical concentration in diluted ferromagnetic thin films

A thickness-dependent critical concentration of an Ising ferromagnetic thin film is predicted. The calculated values of the Curie temperature are bounded by those known for diluted two- and three-dimensional ferromagnets.     

On the theory of ferromagnetic thin films

As is known, the second approximation in the calculation of the partition function by the traces method of ferromagnetic thin films gives wrong results for the coordination number equal to eight. In order to obtain correct results even for this case, the third order approximation of the partition function is developed and thus the magnetic properties of body-centred cubic iron thin films are studied. The dependence of the Curie temperature on the thickness, for different values of the ratio between the anisotropy constant and the exchange energy between two neighbours, is discussed. A value can be chosen for this ratio such that the thin film becomes ferromagnetic only for a thickness greater than a definite value.

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