Surface structure of ultrathin Fe films on Cu(001) revisited

The structure and magnetism of ultrathin Fe films epitaxially grown on a Cu(001) surface are investigated by grazing scattering of fast H and He atoms or ions. By making use of a new variant of ion beam triangulation based on the detection of the number of emitted electrons, we obtain direct information on the structure of the film surface. We observe for room temperature growth a dominant and defined fcc-like structure. Complex surface reconstructions as reported in recent STM and LEED studies are observed only for cooling and H2 dosing.     

Ground state magnetic properties of ultrathin fcc Fe and Co films on Cu(001) surfaces

The oxidation characteristics of silicon implanted with a low dose of nitrogen (1–3×10¹⁵cm^–2) have been studied for dry oxidation conditions at 1020°C. The wafers were subjected to a pre-oxidation annealing. Complete inhibition of the oxide growth occurs in the initial stage of oxidation, while the oxidation rate for prolonged oxidation is identical to that for pure silicon. The oxidation resistance increases with the implantation dose. The resistance is attributed to the formation of a nitrogen-rich surface film during annealing. This layer, which consists of only a few monolayers, is presumably composed of oxynitride. The electrical characteristics of MOS capacitors formed on implanted wafers show that the interface state density is not significantly increased by the low-dose N implantation.     

Crystallographic structure of ultrathin Fe films on Cu(100)

We report the observation of bcc-like crystal structures in 2-4 monolayer (ML) Fe films grown on fcc Cu(100) using scanning tunneling microscopy. The local bcc structure provides a straightforward explanation for their frequently reported outstanding magnetic properties, i.e., ferromagnetic ordering in all layers with a Curie temperature above 300 K. The nonpseudomorphic structure, which becomes pseudomorphic above 4 ML film thickness, is unexpected in terms of conventional rules of thin film growth and stresses the importance of finite thickness effects in ferromagnetic ultrathin films.     

Electron states of ultrathin Pd and Cu films on (001)Ag

We present the results of a theoretical calculation of the electronic structure of a monolayer of Pd and Cu deposited on the (001) surface of Ag. The adsorbate atoms are placed in a central site with the same lateral periodicity as a parallel plane of the substrate. The method of calculation is a parametrized LCAO with hopping integrals determined through a fit to bulk data. Charge transfer effects are taken approximately into account by assuming the intraatomic parameters to vary as the valence orbital ionization potentials. Energy bands and local densities of states are given and the nature and location of the adsorbate states are discussed. The results are compared with the experimental data: good agreement is found for the Pd on Ag system. For Cu on Ag we find that our assumptions do not explain the photoemission data and suggest that some clustering of Cu atoms occurs during the deposition.     

Epitaxial Fe films on ZnSe(001): effect of the substrate surface reconstruction on the magnetic anisotropy

It is well known that Fe films deposited on a c(2 × 2)-reconstructed ZnSe(001) surface show a strong in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. Here, the effect of the substrate reconstruction on the magnetic anisotropy of Fe has been studied by in situ Brillouin light scattering. We found that the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy is strongly reduced for Fe films grown on a (1 × 1)-unreconstructed ZnSe substrate while the in-plane biaxial one is nearly unaffected by the substrate reconstruction. Calculations of magnetic anisotropy energies within the framework of ab initio density functional theory reveal that the strong suppression of anisotropy at the (1 × 1) interface occurs due to complex atomic relaxations as well as the competing effects originating from magnetocrystalline anisotropy and dipole-dipole interactions. For both sharp and intermixed c(2 × 2) interfaces, the magnetic anisotropy is enhanced compared to the (1 × 1) case due to the further lowering of symmetry. The theoretical results are in agreement with the experimental findings.     

Development of magnetic anisotropies in ultrathin epitaxial films of Fe(001) and Ni(001)

Ultrathin films, bcc Fe(001) on Ag(001), fcc Fe(001) on Cu(001) and Fe/Ni(001) bilayers on Ag, were grown by molecular beam epitaxy. A wide range of surface science tools were employed to establish the quality of epitaxial growth. Ferromagnetic resonance and Brillouin light scattering were used to extract the magnetic properties. Emphasis was placed on the study of magnetic anisotropies. Large uniaxial anisotropies with easy axis perpendicular to the film surface were observed in all ultrathin structures studied. These anisotropies were particularly strong in fcc Fe and bcc Fe films. In sufficiently thin samples the saturation magnetization was oriented perpendicularly to the film surface in the absence of an applied field. It has been demonstrated that in bcc Fe films the uniaxial perpendicular anisotropy originates at the film interfaces. In situ measurements indentified the strength of the uniaxial perpendicular anisotropy constant at the Fe/vacuum, Fe/Ag and Fe/Au interfaces asK _us = 0.96, 0.63, and 0.3 ergs/cm² respectively. The surface anisotropies deduced for [bulk Fe/noble metal] interfaces are in good agreement with the values obtained from ultrathin films. Hence the perpendicular surface ansiotropies originate in the broken symmetry at abrupt interfaces. An observed decrease in the cubic anisotropy in bcc Fe ultrathin films has been explained by the presence of a weak 4th order in-plane surface anisotropy,K _1S=0.012 ergs/cm². Fe/Ni bilayers were also investigated. Ni grew in the pure bcc structure for the first 3–6 ML and then transformed to a new structure which exhibited unique magnetic properties. Transformed ultrathin bilayers possessed large inplane 4th order anisotropies far surpassing those observed in bulk Fe and Ni. The large 4th order anisotropies originate in crystallographic defects formed during the Ni lattice transformation.     

Stability and magnetism of ultrathin Cr films on a Fe(001) substrate

Itinerant magnetism of ultrathin epitaxial Cr overlayers on a Fe(001) substrate and their energy stability with respect to Cr-Fe interdiffusion were studied by means of ab initio electronic structure calculations. The latter were based on the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method and the coherent potential approximation. The interdiffusion was simulated by two-dimensional substitutionally disordered Cr-Fe alloys formed within two layers at the Cr/Fe interface. For a 1 monolayer Cr film a tendency to surface alloy formation is found in contrast to a 2 monolayer Cr film which seems to be stable with respect to Fe-Cr intermixing. A comparison of the calculated results to recent experimental data is presented and an interplay between the energy stability and magnetism of the films is pointed out. Presented at the VIII-th Symposium on Surface Physics, Třešt’ Castle, Czech Republic, June 28 – July 2, 1999.     

Frozen low-spin interface in ultrathin Fe films on Cu(111)

In ultrathin film systems, it is a major challenge to understand how a thickness-driven phase transition proceeds along the cross-sectional direction of the films. We use ultrathin Fe films on Cu(111) as a prototype system to demonstrate how to obtain such information using an in situ scanning tunneling microscope and the surface magneto-optical Kerr effect. The magnetization depth profile of a thickness-driven low-spin to high-spin magnetic phase transition is deduced from the experimental data, which leads us to conclude that a low-spin Fe layer at the Fe/Cu interface stays live upon the phase transition. The magnetically live low-spin phase is believed to be induced by a frozen fcc Fe layer that survives a thickness-driven fcc-->bcc structural transition.     

Temperature dependence of multi-jump magnetic switching process in epitaxial Fe/MgO(001) films

Temperature dependence of magnetic switching processes with multiple jumps in Fe/MgO(001) films is investigated by magnetoresistance measurements. When the temperature decreases from 300K to 80K, the measured three-jump hysteresis loops turn into two-jump loops. The temperature dependence of the fourfold in-plane magnetic anisotropy constant K1, domain wall pinning energy, and an additional uniaxial magnetic anisotropy constant KUare responsible for this transformation. The strengths of K1 and domain wall pinning energy increase with decreasing temperature, but KU remains unchanged. Moreover, magnetization reversal mechanisms, with either two successive or two separate 90°domain wall propagation, are introduced to explain the multi-jump magnetic switching process in epitaxial Fe/Mg O(001) films at different temperatures.     

Ion beam triangulation of ultrathin Mn and CoMn films grown on Cu(001)

Total target currents for grazing scattering of keV protons from a crystal target are used to investigate the structure of surfaces and ultrathin films. This current shows pronounced maxima whenever the azimuthal incidence angle coincides with close-packed rows of atoms in the surface and subsurface layers. The real-space method is applied to study monolayer and bilayer films of Mn and of CoMn epitaxially grown on a Cu(001) surface.     

Theoretical calculation of magnetic properties of ultrathin Fe films on Cu(100)

The temperature dependence of the magnetization in fcc Fe on Cu(100) is calculated using a self-consistent local mean-field theory. The model reproduces an experimental magnetization oscillation as a function of film thickness and supports a picture where the top two layers are ferromagnetically coupled, and the remaining layers are antiferromagnetically coupled. The origin of the puzzling linear temperature dependence in oscillation amplitude is understood as a "surface phenomena" of the antiferromagnetic layer at the Fe/Cu interface. Proximity effects between a thin antiferromagnet with a low Neel temperature and a neighboring ferromagnet with a higher Curie temperature are discussed.