Single-electron tunneling in granular Ag–SiO2films

Current transport properties of thin Ag–SiO₂granular films were studied. In spite of very simple device structures (i.e., just sandwiching the granular film with Al electrodes), clear Coulomb blockade and Coulomb staircase structures were observed in the current–voltage (I–V) characteristics. The observedI–Vcharacteristics were qualitatively explained by a double-barrier and a triple-barrier tunnel-junction model.     

Giant magnetoresistance in Cu–Co films electrodeposited on n-Si

High quality Cu–Co alloy films with excellent metallic luster have been electrolytically deposited directly onto n-Si (1 0 0) substrate, thereby eliminating the need of a conducting seed layer, which is otherwise required when the films were grown on insulating substrates (Al₂O₃). The as-deposited Cu–Co films exhibit relatively higher magnetoresistance (MR) in comparison with the as-deposited films on Al₂O₃ under identical conditions. The observed increase in MR could be attributed to the reduced substrate current shunting. The MR further improves to 2.67% (at H=10 kOe) with vacuum annealing (at 425°C for 30 min) of the films on Si. This has been ascribed to the separation of Cu and Co phases resulting in a magnetic granular nanostructure. This value of MR of annealed films on Si is, however, lower in comparison with the value obtained for annealed films deposited on Al₂O₃. Glancing angle X-ray diffraction (GAXRD) has revealed the formation of copper silicide in these samples, which is responsible for the lower value of MR. Thus we have observed good MR with a copper silicide host matrix.     

Giant magnetostriction in rapidly quenched Fe–Ga?

Substituting Fe by nonmagnetic Ga causes a dramatic increase of the magnetostriction. The reason for this effect is related to structure and also due to softening of the elastic properties. Of special interest is that in literature “giant” magnetostriction values (up to 2100 ppm) for rapidly quenched Fe–Ga (15–20% Ga) ribbons were reported. In this work, careful investigations using a strain gauge method as well as a capacitance cell were performed. Especially for the case applying an external field perpendicular to the ribbon plane, it is demonstrated that bending effects can occur and they are difficult to avoid without introducing any stress into the sample. This effect leads to large signals in the strain gauge of more than ±3000 ppm, which sign depends on the occurrence of strain or stress. Experiments on a 25-μm-thin Fe foil leads to similar results. Avoiding bending by gluing ribbons or thin foils or splat-cooled thin pure Ni on a thin plastic plate, gave magnetostriction values close to those of polycrystalline bulk materials.     

Giant magnetoresistance in Co–Al2O3 granular films prepared by self-organized growth

Co–Al₂O₃ granular films with a narrow distribution in cluster size of Co clusters embedded in Al₂O₃ matrix were prepared by sequential deposition based on self-organized growth. Resistivity dependence of giant magnetoresistance (GMR) was studied. The GMR takes a maximum of 5.2% at room temperature and 9.4% at 13 K and 5700 Gs when the resistivity of the sample is 4×10⁵–7×10⁵ μΩ cm. The temperature dependence of resistivities and GMR were discussed especially. A temperature dependence of conductance ρ∼exp[T₁/(T+T₀)] was found, which indicates the dominant conduction mechanism is fluctuation-induced tunneling. A linear relationship of GMR versus T was observed, GMR=a–kT, in applied magnetic field 5700 Gs. The remarkable character of temperature dependence of GMR should be due to the special microstructure that the clusters are monodispersed in the films.     

Faraday rotation in a resonant five-level system via electromagnetically induced transparency

We study the Faraday rotation of polarization of a probe field in a cold, coherently driven five-level system with an M-type configuration. By means of a method of multiple scales we derive two coupled nonlinear envelope equations, which govern the evolution of two circularly polarized components of the probe field. It is shown that due to the quantum interference effect induced by two control fields, one can obtain a large rotation angle with a very low absorption of the probe field. In addition, an efficient control over the polarization state of the probe field in the system can also be easily realized.     

Out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy in columnar grown Fe–Ni films

Polycrystalline thin films usually present magnetic anisotropy resulting from a conjunction of textures, residual stresses, surface effects, and magnetic dipole distribution. The shape anisotropy, which is caused by the magnetic dipole distribution, is dominant in most of the cases, and it forces the occurrence of in-plane easy axes for the magnetization. Contrary to this common expectation, we have found predominant out-of-plane easy axes in a series of Fe–Ni thin films produced by DC sputtering. Films with different thicknesses, from 40 to 1000 nm, and different deposition temperatures have been tested and show similar results. These unusual characteristics are results of a particular columnar structure formed during the films growth. The magnetic characterization of the samples has been done by Mössbauer spectroscopy, magnetometry, and ferromagnetic resonance. The unusual anisotropy observed is not believed to be uniform along the film thickness. This interpretation comes from the comparison of the experimental results with hysteresis obtained by micromagnetic simulations. Five distinct configurations for the anisotropies have been simulated for this comparison.     

Phase composition and magnetic structure in nanocrystalline ferromagnetic Fe–N–O films

The chemical and phase compositions and structure of the Fe–N–O films produced by reactive dc magnetron sputtering (in Ar or Ar + N₂ gas mixture atmospheres) under different conditions (energy parameters of magnetron, residual pressure in the magnetron chamber after preliminary pumping, operating pressure in gas mixture) have been investigated by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Impurity of nitrogen and oxygen, which are present in the sputtered films, participate in the formation of their phase composition and determine its features. Some phenomena inherent in the nanocrystalline films in the metastable state were found. These are the formation of supersaturated bcc interstitial αFe-based solid solution and precipitation of α’ nitrous martensite with bct crystal lattice. The magnetic structure of the Fe–N–O films, which is characterized by the existence of stochastic domains discovered by correlation magnetometry method, is discussed in terms of the random anisotropy model. It was found that two modes of the magnetic anisotropy field of stochastic domains are formed, which determine the existence of two modes of the coercive field found in the magnetic hysteresis loops.     

Preparation and magnetic properties of Fe–Ag granular alloy

An aqueous solution of AgNO₃ in the presence of ammonia and Fe(CO)₅ is sonicated under a H₂/Ar mixture, yielding a nanostructured homogeneous phase of Ag/Fe₂O₃. This composite material is further reduced at 300°C under hydrogen to produce the nanophased Fe/Ag solid mixture. The as-prepared material, as well as the reduced mixture, is analyzed by various conventional methods. Magnetization loops, ESR, Mössbauer, and magnetoresistance measurements are also conducted to determine the magnetic properties of the products.     

Characterization of Fe–Nb sputtered thin films

Structure, composition and chemical behavior of co-sputtered Fe–Nb thin films are analyzed by different techniques, as conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction. It is shown that oxygen is determinative in hindering the Fe–Nb alloy formation and, as a result, Fe_1−xO and Nb₂O₅ occur in significant amounts, even in vacuum. In spite of the oxygen role, a Fe–Nb alloy is formed in little amounts, which increase as the Nb content is increased. The increase of the Nb content is also related with the increase of Fe_1−xO and with a decreasing of the metallic Fe present. Mössbauer data indicate the Fe–Nb phase present is the Fe₂Nb Laves phase.     

Fe–Pt–MgO stacked films for perpendicular magnetic recording

Fe–Pt–MgO stacked storage layer constructed by [Fe–Pt/Fe–Pt–MgO/Fe–Pt] trilayered structure was proposed for a next-generation high-density perpendicular magnetic recording medium. The Fe–Pt–MgO composite middle layer was prepared by sputtering the Fe–Pt–MgO composite-type target including relatively large MgO content of 50 vol%. The Fe–Pt(0 0 1) seed layer deposited on MgO underlayer was effective in forming the ordered fct(0 0 1) phase for the Fe–Pt–MgO composite film. The reduction of transition jitter noise and the suppression of signal overlap were observed in the stacked-type medium with the Fe–Pt–MgO middle layer of 1 nm thickness. The improvement of recording properties is attributed to the pinning effect of magnetic domain wall by the Fe–Pt–MgO composite layer inserted into the middle of pure Fe–Pt storage layer.     

Damping and ferromagnetic resonance linewidth broadening in nanocrystalline soft ferromagnetic Fe–Co–Hf–N films

In order to describe high-frequency damping mechanisms of ferromagnetic films by means of the imaginary part of the frequency-dependant permeability, CMOS compatible ferromagnetic Fe₃₆Co₄₄Hf₉N₁₁ films were deposited by reactive r.f. magnetron sputtering on oxidised 5×5 mm²×380 μm (1 0 0)-silicon substrates with a 6-in. Fe₃₈Co₄₇Hf₁₅ target, as well as magnetic field annealing between 300 and 600 °C. An in-plane uniaxial anisotropy of around 4.5 mT as well as an excellent soft magnetic behaviour with a saturation polarisation of approximately 1.4 T could be observed after heat treatment at the above-mentioned temperatures, which drives these films to a high-frequency suitability. Ferromagnetic resonance frequencies of approximately up to 2.4 GHz could be obtained. The frequency-dependant permeability was measured with a broadband permeameter. Depending on the heat treatment, an increase of the full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the imaginary part of the frequency-dependant permeability is discussed in terms of two-magnon scattering, anisotropy-type competition and local resonance generation through predominant grain growth causing magnetisation and anisotropy inhomogeneities in the magnetic films. The grain size of the films was determined by (HRTEM) imaging and amounts from a few nanometres for films heat treated at 300 °C to more than 10 nm at 600 °C where the FWHM Δf_eff and the Landau–Lifschitz–Gilbert equation damping parameter α_eff increases with d_nm² and d_nm (e.g. d_nm is the grain diameter of the nonmagnetic Hf–N phase), respectively.     

From Faraday rotation to “Faraday oscillation”: Coherence effect between real and virtual excitons

This work provides the microscopic mechanisms responsible for circular birefringence changed into linear birefringence when the polarization of the excitons present in a semiconductor sample goes from circular to linear. This change shows up as Faraday rotation turning to “Faraday oscillation”: The probe polarization plane oscillates instead of rotates while the polarization goes from linear to elliptical and linear again. This oscillation, which reduces to zero when the probe polarization is parallel or perpendicular to the exciton polarization, comes from a non trivial coherence effect between real excitons present in the sample and virtual excitons coupled to unabsorbed photons. While Faraday rotation mainly follows from one single carrier exchange between composite excitons in the absence of Coulomb interaction, Faraday oscillation requires two Coulomb interactions plus a double carrier exchange, the virtual excitons coupled to the unabsorbed “in” and “out” photons being made with different electrons and holes, as nicely revealed by Shiva diagrams which visualize the many-body physics taking place in composite-exciton systems.     

Bias voltage dependence of tunneling magnetoresistance in granular C60–Co films with current-perpendicular-to-plane geometry

Voltage-dependence of the tunneling magnetoresistance effect in the granular C₆₀–Co films has been investigated for the samples with the current-perpendicular-to-plane geometry. The transport measurements under this geometry demonstrate that the granular C₆₀–Co films show an unusual exponential bias voltage dependence of the magnetoresistance ratio down to zero voltage. Small characteristic energies of less than 10's meV are derived from the temperature dependences of the characteristic voltage in the exponential relationship. Considering the magnitudes of the voltage drop between Co nanoparticles and also the effect of cotunneling on the energy values, the characteristic energies for the voltage-induced degradation of the spin polarization are found to show a satisfactory agreement with that for the thermally-induced one. It can be reasonably expected that the onset of magnetic disorder to the localized d-electron spins at the interface region of the C₆₀-based matrix (C₆₀–Co compound) with Co nanoparticles leading to the unusual voltage and temperature dependence of the magnetoresistance ratio and the spin polarization at low temperatures.     

Magnetic properties of Fe–∼30 at% Pd films

Fe–Pd alloys with about 30 at% of Pd belong to the group of alloys exhibiting a thermoelastic martensitic transformation. The magnetic properties of the Fe–∼30 at% Pd thin films with the disordered FCC structure were examined. A relatively high coercive force of the films was measured. In one of the film samples, a case of out-of-plane magnetization occurred.     

Microstructural investigation of Fe–Zr–B–Ag soft magnetic thin films

A microstructural study of DC-sputtered Fe_93−xZr₃B₄Ag_x films on Si(0 0 1) substrates has been carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). All samples were deposited as a function of additive Ag content (x=0–6 at%), and annealed in the range of temperature, 300–600°C, for 1 h in order to obtain enhanced soft magnetic properties. Through XRD and TEM investigation, Ag-free Fe₉₃Zr₃B₄ films on Si(0 0 1) substrates consisted of nano-crystalline Fe-based phases. In the presence of Ag additive element, the microstructure of as-deposited Fe_93−xZr₃B₄Ag_x films consisted of a mixture of majority of Fe-based amorphous and Ag crystalline phases. In this case, additive element, Ag played a role in retarding the formation of Fe-based crystalline phases during deposition, and insoluble nano-crystalline Ag particles were dispersed in the Fe-based amorphous matrix. As the content of Ag increased, the intensity of Ag crystalline XRD peak increased. Crystallization of Fe-based amorphous phase in the matrix of Fe₈₈Zr₃B₄Ag₅ thin films occurred at an annealing temperature of 400°C. In the case of Fe₈₈Zr₃B₄Ag₅ films annealed at 500°C, a much enhanced permeability of the Fe-based alloy thin films associated with nano-crystalline phases was achieved.     

Ambiguities on structure analysis of Fe–N thin films

Fe–N thin films with good soft magnetic properties were prepared by RF sputtering and vacuum annealed at 250°C under 12000 A/m magnetic field for 4 h. The structure of α′ in thin films deposited at room temperature is different from α′ formed through the Bain mechanism in bulk samples. In thin films, the lattice parameters of α′ are $\text{c=2.866+1.559}\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>\alpha </mtext><mtext>\prime </mtext>}}\text{,a=2.864+0.181}\text{C}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>N</mtext>}}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>\alpha </mtext><mtext>\prime </mtext>}}$.     

Magnetotransport in core-shell Fe–Fe oxide nanostructures

Magnetic and magnetotransport measurements were performed on gas-phase synthesized Fe nanoparticles subjected to surface oxidation and cold consolidation. Two samples were investigated with α-Fe volume fraction of 0.15 and 0.60. The sample with smaller metallic fraction is below the percolation threshold for metallic conduction and the conduction mechanism is dominated by thermally activated processes across the oxide. In this case, by lowering the temperature, an increase of the negative magnetoresistance is observed up to 5% at 50 K in a magnetic field of 70 kOe. The magnetoresistance dependence on the sample magnetization, temperature and sample composition is discussed considering the magnetic correlations present in these nanostrucuterd systems.     

Methodology for studying particle–particle triboelectrification in granular materials

A critical challenge for experimental studies of triboelectric charging is to generate reproducible and unambiguous data that can be linked to theoretical concepts. We have developed a methodology to investigate the triboelectric charging of granular materials due solely to particle–particle interactions (i.e. no particle–wall interactions). The methodology is based on a particle flow apparatus that generates a fountain-like flow in which the particles contact only other particles, but no equipment surfaces. Non-contact methods of measuring charge and separating particles by charge are employed so that probe-particle charging does not occur.