Ab initio calculations of interfacial magnetism in Fe/Mo superlattices

Ab initio calculations have been performed on Fe/Mo(1 0 0) superlattices in order to study the interfacial magnetic properties and layer thickness effect on the magnetic moments. In most cases, the magnetic moments of interfacial Fe monolayers are always smaller than those of the inner layers, and the induced magnetic moments of interfacial Mo monolayers oriented in the opposite direction. Calculation results show that the Fe layers are ferromagnetic when n = 3. As the thickness of the Mo layers increases, the influence of the Mo layer increases and the magnetic state of the Fe layer gradually changes into an antiferromagnetic or non-magnetic state. The change of magnetic moments of Fe/Mo superlattices is in agreement with the experimentally observed oscillation periods.     

First-principle study on the electronic structure and magnetic properties in Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junction with Mg insertion layer

The effect of a Mg insertion layer between the Fe electrode and the MgO barrier layer on the electronic structure and magnetic properties of Fe/MgO/Fe magnetic tunnel junction has been studied by first-principle method. Two models of (a) Fe(1 0 0)/MgO(1 0 0)/Fe(1 0 0) and (b) Fe(1 0 0)/Mg/MgO(1 0 0)/Mg/Fe(1 0 0) were established. Our calculation results show that the Mg insertion layer has enhanced both the spin polarization and the magnetic moment of its adjacent Fe layer. The results have been discussed in terms of the variation in the DOS features and charge transfer with the Mg insertion layer.     

Asymmetrically shaped hysteresis loop in exchange-biased FeNi/FeMn film

The magnetization reversal of the bilayer polycrystalline FeNi(50 Å)/FeMn(50 Å) film sputtered in a magnetic field has been studied by magnetic and magneto-optical techniques. The external magnetic fields were applied along the easy or hard magnetization axis of the ferromagnetic permalloy layer. The asymmetry of hysteresis loop has been found. Appreciable asymmetry and the exchange bias were observed only in the field applied along the easy axis. The specific features of magnetization reversal were explained within the phenomenological model that involves high-order exchange anisotropy and misalignment of the easy axes of the antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic layers. It has been shown that the film can exist in one of three equilibrium magnetic states in the field applied along the easy axis. The transitions between these states occur as first-order phase transitions. The observed hysteresis loop asymmetry is related to the existence of the metastable state.     

Polarized neutron reflectometry of the influence of Fe/Si,Fe/FeSi2 and Au/Fe interfaces on the magnetic properties of epitaxial Fe films

The magnetic and structural properties of epitaxial Fe films grown on Si(1 1 1) are investigated by polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) at room temperature. The influence of different types of interfaces, Fe/Si, Fe/FeSi₂ and Au/Fe on the magnetic properties of Fe films deposited by molecular beam epitaxy onto Si(1 1 1) are characterized. We observe a drastic reduction of the magnetic moment in the entire Fe film deposited directly on the silicon substrate essentially due to strong Si interdiffusion throughout the whole Fe layer thickness. The use of a silicide FeSi₂ template layer stops the interdiffusion and the value of the magnetic moment of the deposited Fe layer is close to its bulk value. We also evidence the asymmetric nature of the interfaces, Si/Fe and Fe/Si interfaces are magnetically very different. Finally, we show that the use of Au leads to an enhancement of the magnetization at the interface.     

The structure and magnetism of Fe/Mo(0 0 1) surface: A pseudopotential calculation

The effect of structure on the magnetism of iron monolayers (MLs) on molybdenum is investigated using the density functional theory (DFT) with norm conserving pseudopotentials and a plane wave basis, under the local spin density approximation (LSDA). Relaxation of 5 and 7 ML of Mo resulted in a contraction of 11.3% and 11.7%, respectively, for the top Mo–Mo interlayer spacing in close agreement with experimental results. In the case of one Fe overlayer, the top Fe–Mo interlayer spacing contracted by 15.8% for a ferromagnetic (FM) p(1×1) and 20.6% for an antiferromagnetic (AF) c(2×2) configuration. The magnetic moment of the surface (Fe) layer is enhanced from its theoretically calculated bulk value. Total energy calculations show that the AF c(2×2) is the stable state with a magnetic moment of 2.53 μ_B. The surface Fe atoms are AF coupled with each other and with the Mo layers below, showing layered AF coupling. The present study demonstrates the reliability of the pseudopotential approach under LSDA with core corrections included to the calculation of magnetic properties of combined transition metal systems.     

Theoretical study of magnetism and electronic structure of Fe3/Crn(1 1 0) superlattices

The electronic structure and magnetism of Fe₃/Cr_n(1 1 0) (n=1, 3, 5) superlattices (SL) with varying layer thickness have been studied using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave (FLAPW) method within the first-principle formalism. The results show that the ferromagnetic state is the preferable phase in the ground state. The magnetic moments of the Fe layers are slightly modified by the presence of the Cr layers. The Cr magnetic moments alternate direction from layer to layer, and an antiferromagnetic coupling between Fe and Cr at the interfacial layer is seen. The magnetic moments of the Cr layers are suppressed because there is a strong hybridization between d-states of both Fe and Cr atoms. Only a small moment is found in the Cr layer. The Cr moment alignment is determined by a delicate balance between the different magnetic interaction.     

Microstructure, magnetic and optical properties of sputtered polycrystalline ZnO films with Fe addition

Microstructure, magnetic and optical properties of polycrystalline Fe-doped ZnO films fabricated by cosputtering with different Fe atomic fractions (x_Fe) have been examined systematically. Fe addition could affect the growth of ZnO grains and surface morphology of the films. As x_Fe is larger than 7.0%, ZnFe₂O₄ grains appear in the films. All the films are ferromagnetic. The ferromagnetism comes from the ferromagnetic interaction activated by defects between the Fe ions that replace Zn ions. The average moment per Fe ion reaches a maximum value of 1.61 μ_B at x_Fe = 4.8%. With further increase in x_Fe, the average moment per Fe ion decreases because the antiferromagnetic energy is lower than the ferromagnetic one due to the reduced distance between the adjacent Fe ions. The optical band gap value decreases from 3.245 to 3.010 eV as x_Fe increases from 0% to 10%. Photoluminescence spectra analyses indicate that many defects that affect the optical and magnetic properties exist in the films.     

Surface order dependent magnetic thin film growth: Fe on GaN(0 0 0 1)

X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism have been used to study the growth process, chemical composition and magnetic character of iron deposited on ordered and disordered GaN(0 0 0 1) surfaces. On the (1 × 1) ordered surface the Fe grows uniformly but with disruption to the substrate surface, subsequently nitrogen desorbs from the surface, some of which diffuses into the Fe overlayer. The film is magnetically fractured, with high magnetic coercivity and broad switching fields. Conversely, the gallium rich disordered surface protects the underlying substrate from any disruption and initially induces non-uniform growth, the Fe clusters coalesce at ∼12 Å, to produce a uniform film with desirable magnetic characteristics. Films beyond this point (>12 Å) indicate sharp hysteresis loops with low coercivities. For the resultant film (36 Å) we measure a magnetic moment of 2.02 μ_B, in agreement with bulk bcc iron (2.068 μ_B.)     

Structural and magnetic study of swift heavy ion irradiated W/Fe multilayer structure

The present study reports the effect of swift heavy ion irradiation on structural and magnetic properties of sputtered W/Fe multilayer structure (MLS) having bilayer compositions of [W(10 Å)/Fe(20 Å)]_10BL. The MLS is irradiated by 120 MeV Au⁹⁺ ions of fluences 1×10¹³ and 4×10¹³ ions/cm². Techniques like X-ray reflectivity (XRR), cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy (X-TEM) and DC magnetization with a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) are used for structural and magnetic characterization of pristine and irradiated MLS. Analysis of XRR data using Parratt’s formalism shows a significant increase in W/Fe layer roughness. X-TEM studies reveal that intra-layer microstructure of Fe layers in MLS becomes nano-crystalline on irradiation. DC magnetization study shows that with spacer layer thickness interlayer coupling changes between ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic.     

Investigation of ferromagnetic coupling between Co layers in a Co/Pt multilayer with perpendicular anisotropy

The coercivity of a Co/Pt multilayer with out-of-plane anisotropy can be lowered greatly if it is grown onto an ultrathin NiO underlayer . By making use of this characteristic, a series of samples glass/NiO(10 Å)/[Co(4 Å)/Pt(5 Å)]₃/Pt(x Å)/[Co(4 Å)/Pt(5 Å)]₃ with different Pt spacer thickness have been prepared to determine the ferromagnetic (FM) coupling between Co layers across the Pt layer. The measurements of major and minor hysteresis loops have shown that the FM coupling between the top and bottom Co/Pt multilayers decreases monotonically with the Pt layer thickness and disappears above the Pt layer thickness of 40 Å. This thickness of 40 Å is much larger than that in the literature. In addition to the FM coupling between the top and bottom Co/Pt multilayers across the Pt spacer, there exists a weak biquadratic coupling, which induces the broad transition of the bottom Co/Pt multilayer.     

Magnetic structures in Ni80Fe20/Ru multilayers

Using polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR) measurements together with associated simulation, magnetic structures of two Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ (1 1 1)/Ru (0 0 0 1) multilayer samples with Ru thickness of 9 and 21 Å were investigated under various external magnetic fields at room temperature. The results reveal the existence of layer thickness, interface roughness, magnetic moment, interlayer coupling angle and non-collinear coupling. The former three are independent of Ru thickness; while the latter two are strongly dependent of Ru thickness.     

Extracting uniaxial anisotropy of ferromagnetic layer in exchange-biased system

Effective anisotropy of the ferromagnetic pinned layer of ferro(FM)-antiferromagnetic (AF)-coupled NiFe(FM)/FeMn(AF) exchange-biased system was investigated in a broad frequency range (100 MHz-5 GHz) using a complex permeability spectrum. The exchange bias and effective uniaxial anisotropy fields of the thin film have been computed theoretically using the Landau-Lifschitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation. From the measurements, uniaxial anisotropy of the pinned FM layer has been extracted to understand the nature of the exchange bias in the system. It is found that the uniaxial anisotropy field of NiFe layer when exchange biased with the AF layer increases from 5 to 15 Oe at different external magnetic fields.     

Magneto-volume effects in Fe–Cu solid solutions

The magnetic properties of Fe–Cu metastable solid solutions have been investigated by means of neutron diffraction and magnetisation measurements. These compounds exhibit ferromagnetic order with Curie temperatures above room temperature for concentrations beyond 40 at% in Fe. The magnetic moment at 5 K can reach values over 2 μ_B, while the high field susceptibility is similar to that found in FCC–FeNi Invar alloys. These features together with the low values for the linear coefficient for thermal expansion in the ferromagnetic region suggest that magneto-volume anomalies, including Invar behaviour, play a major role in the magnetic properties of this system when the crystal structure is face centred cubic. Such behaviour could be explained using theoretical total-band energy calculations.     

Magnetoresistance study and interlayer coupling of CoFe/Os/CoFe thin films

The CoFe/Os/CoFe thin films were deposited on natural oxidized Si(1 0 0) substrates at room temperature by an ultra-high vacuum DC-magnetron sputtering system with a base pressure less than 1×10⁻⁸ Torr. The thickness of the ferromagnetic layers was 100 Å in all cases and a series of trilayers with Os spacer ranging from 3 to 20 Å was made. Effects of the Os layer thickness on the magnetoresistance (MR) and magnetic properties were investigated. The results showed that the magnetism switched from ferromagnetic (Os thickness=3, 5 Å) to antiferromagnetic (Os thickness=7–13 Å) and then ferromagnetic (Os thickness=20 Å) again. From the MR study, we see that the AMR ratio decreased from 4.64% to the minimum value 0.69% at 9 Å and then increased; GMR ratio increased from 0.01% to the maximum value 0.43% at 9 Å and then decreased. From the hysteresis loops, the results exhibited that coercivity increased from 16 Oe to the maximum value 92 Oe at 9 Å and then decreased, and squareness value decreased from 0.97 to the minimum value 0.17 at 9 Å and then increased. Dependence of saturation field on Os spacer-layer thickness for CoFe trilayers showed a maximum value 216 Oe at 9 Å. This suggests that the small GMR effect may be related to the small exchange coupling strength in CoFe/Os/CoFe thin films.     

Theoretical investigation on structural, magnetic and electronic properties of ferromagnetic GdN under pressure

The tight-binding linear muffin tin orbital (TB-LMTO) method within the local density approximation is used to calculate structural, electronic and magnetic properties of GdN under pressure. Both nonmagnetic (NM) and magnetic calculations are performed. The structural and magnetic stabilities are determined from the total energy calculations. The magnetic to ferromagnetic (FM) transition is not calculated. Magnetically, GdN is stable in the FM state, while its ambient structure is found to be stable in the NaCl-type (B₁) structure. We predict NaCl-type to CsCl-type structure phase transition in GdN at a pressure of 30.4 GPa. In a complete spin of FM GdN the electronic band picture of one spin shows metallic, while the other spin shows its semiconducting behavior, resulting in half-metallic behavior at both ambient and high pressures. We have, therefore, calculated electronic band structures, equilibrium lattice constants, cohesive energies, bulk moduli and magnetic moments for GdN in the B₁ and B₂ phases. The magnetic moment, equilibrium lattice parameter and bulk modulus is calculated to be 6.99 μ_B, 4.935 Å and 192.13 GPa, respectively, which are in good agreement with the experimental results.     

Characterization of magnetic phases in the FexMn0.65−xAl0.35 disordered alloys

Melted alloys of the Fe_xMn_0.65−xAl_0.35 disordered system, 0.25?x?0.65, were experimentally studied by Mössbauer spectrometry, vibrating sample magnetometry and AC magnetic susceptibility. All the alloys exhibit the BCC structure with a nearly constant lattice parameter (2.92 Å). Mössbauer studies at room temperature (RT) show that in the 0.25 ?x?0.45 range the alloys are paramagnetic (P) while in the 0.50?x?0.65 range, they are ferromagnetic. At 77 K, Mössbauer studies show that the alloy with x=0.25$x=0.25$ presents weak magnetic character that is consistent with an antiferromagnetic (AF) behavior due to the high Mn content, while those with 0.30?x?0.40 are paramagnetic, and those in the 0.45?x  ?0.65 range are ferromagnetic (F) with a mean field increasing with the Fe content. Hysteresis cycles at RT prove the paramagnetic character of the alloys between x=0.25$x=0.25$ and 0.40 and the ferromagnetic character for x?0.45$x?0.45$. Complementary measurements using AC magnetic susceptibility permit a magnetic phase diagram to be proposed, with the P phase for high temperature and all the compositions, the AF phase for low Fe content and at low temperature, the F phase for high Fe content above RT and the spin glass phase for all the compositions and at temperatures lower than 46 K. In addition, the mean field renormalization group (MFRG) method, applied to a random competitive and site dilute Ising model with nearest-neighbor, gives rise to magnetic phase diagram, which fairly agrees with previous experimental one.     

Formation and ordering of local magnetic moments in Fe–Al alloys

The density functional theory is used to study the local magnetic moments in Fe–Al alloys depending on concentration (from 29 to 44 at% Al) and the Fe nearest environment. We have found three different solutions for the system: a spin-spiral wave (SSW) which has a minimum energy and two collinear states, a ferromagnetic one and a state with both positive and negative Fe magnetic moments (the Fe atoms with many neighboring Al atoms around them have negative magnetic moments, while the other Fe atoms—positive). Both the SSW and the negative Fe moments agree with the experiments. Magnetization curves taken from the literature are analyzed. The assumption of percolation character of the size distribution of magnetic clusters describes well the experimental superparamagnetic behavior above 150 K.     

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.     

Field cooling-induced magnetic anisotropy in exchange biased CoO/Fe bilayer studied by ferromagneticresonance

Exchange-biased CoO/Fe bilayer grown on MgO (0 0 1) substrate by sputtering, studied by variable angle and temperature ferromagnetic resonance. Room temperature in-plane measurements reveal that the Fe layer was epitaxially grown on MgO substrate with a fourfold cubic symmetry. The data also show that the easy axis of magnetization is in the film plane and makes an angle of 45° with the [1 0 0] crystallographic direction of MgO substrate. The low temperature data exhibit a sudden onset of a field cooling-induced and shifted cubic anisotropy below the Néel temperature of CoO. This results in a twofold uniaxial or fourfold cubic symmetry for in-plane magnetic anisotropy depending on a field cooling direction. Low temperature measurements also present a reduction in the resonance fields due to the antiferromagnetic/ferromagnetic coupling. The developed theoretical model perfectly simulates the experimental data of coupled CoO/Fe bilayer.     

Magnetic structures of exchange bias Ni/FeF2(1 1 0) interface

Electronic and magnetic structures of ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM), Ni/FeF₂(1 1 0), with a compensated AFM interface are investigated by using the full-potential linearized augmented plane-wave method. We find that magnetic structures at the AFM interface are perturbed by a contact with the FM material, where the superexchange interaction through the interface F excites and induces a small net moment at the AFM interface. These results predicted may play an important role for explaining the exchange bias in this system, and rule out the exchange bias mechanisms with the spin-flop coupling and the magnetic moment reorientation.