Adsorption behaviors of CO on W(1 1 0) and Mo(1 1 0) surfaces in the β-state are still not clear

Adsorption structure of CO on W and Mo at above ～800 K (β-CO) has been extensively studied in the history of surface science. Most of the previous studies concluded that CO is dissociated in the β-CO, and a tilted structure plays a role as a precursor state of the dissociation. We have recently studied valence band spectra of the β-CO on W(1 1 0), oxygen-precovered W(1 1 0) and Mo(1 1 0) using synchrotron radiation. CO-derived states with binding energies close to those of the 4σ-CO can be observed, implying a non-dissociative chemisorption in this high-temperature state. We suggest that still some additional works need to be done in order to understand adsorption structure of β-CO completely.     

Structural and magnetic properties of BCC Fe/Co (0 0 1) superlattices

In thin layered Fe/Co (0 0 1), grown on MgO (0 0 1), both Fe and Co crystallize in the body-centered cubic (BCC) structure, as seen in a series of superlattices where the layer thickness of the components is varied from two to twelve atomic monolayers. These superlattices have novel magnetic properties as observed by magnetization and polarized neutron reflectivity measurements. There is a significant enhancement of the magnetic moments of both Fe and Co at the interfaces. Furthermore, the easy axis of the system changes from [1 0 0] for films of low cobalt content to [1 1 0] for a Co content exceeding 33%. No indication of a uniaxial anisotropy component is found in any of the samples. The first anisotropy constant (K₁) of BCC Co is found to be negative with an estimated magnitude of 110 kJ/m³ at 10 K. In all cases, the magnetic moments of Fe and Co have parallel alignment.     

Magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Fe layers grown on Si(0 0 1)

The magnetic properties of epitaxial iron films up to 80 monolayers (ML) thickness grown on Si(0 0 1) by using a template technique were investigated by means of superconducting quantum interference device and magneto-optic Kerr effect techniques. The thinnest films investigated (∼3 ML) exhibit a composition close to Fe₃Si with a Curie temperature below room temperature (RT) and strong out-of-plane remanent magnetization that reflects the presence of a dominant second order surface anisotropy term. Thicker films (⩾4 ML) are ferromagnetic at RT with remanent magnetization in film-plane and a composition closer to pure Fe with typically 8–10% silicon content. When deposited at normal incidence such films show simple in-plane fourfold anisotropy without uniaxial contribution. The relevant fourth-order effective anisotropy constant K₄^eff was measured versus film thickness and found to change its sign near 18 ML. The origin of this remarkable behavior is investigated by means of a Néel model and mainly traced back to fourth-order surface anisotropy and magneto-elastic effects related to the large biaxial in-plane compressive strain up to 3.5% in the thinnest (⩽25 ML) films.     

In situ magneto-optical Kerr effect study of uncovered Fe films on ZnSe(0 0 1)

The magnetic properties of uncovered Fe/ZnSe/GaAs(1 0 0) ultrathin films have been determined in situ by magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). Fe films up to 10 monolayers (ML) thick were deposited on c(2×2) Zn-rich ZnSe/GaAs(0 0 1) surfaces at 180 °C. We have studied the thickness dependence of the in-plane lattice parameter of the Fe films and of the MOKE hysteresis loops in the longitudinal geometry, at 150 K, under magnetic fields up to 0.1 T applied along the [1 1 0] and [1-1 0] directions of the ZnSe(0 0 1). Reflection high energy electron diffraction show that in the low thickness regime the Fe films present an in-plane structural anisotropy characterized by an expansion along the [1 1 0] direction. Hysteretic loops were obtained only starting from ∼5 ML Fe. We found the onset of an uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with [1 1 0] magnetic easy axis at 7 ML Fe.     

Transition of magnetic anisotropy in Ni/GaAs (0 0 1) observed by magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance

Polycrystalline thin Ni films deposited onto GaAs (0 0 1) show a transition of the magnetic anisotropy depending on its thickness. The anisotropy is perpendicular to the film plane for the thicknesses of the film ⩽12 nm. This becomes in-plane in the films having thicknesses ⩾15 nm. The films are deposited onto the n-type GaAs (0 0 1) substrate by the usual thermal evaporation method and also by the electron beam evaporation in ultra high vacuum onto a GaAs epilayer in the standard molecular beam epitaxy system. The magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) are observed in the temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. For the discussion of the microscopic origin of the anomalous properties in magnetization and FMR experiments, the experimental results are reviewed by introducing a uniaxial anisotropy, which is calculated from the easy-axis and hard-axis magnetization data. This calculated anisotropy is able to explain the temperature and angle dependency of the FMR spectra of the Ni films. Hence the magnetization and FMR spectra are in agreement with the type of the anisotropy and its temperature dependency. In addition to these, the temperature dependence of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy is able to explain the previously reported anomalous effect of reducing the squareness at low temperatures in Ni/GaAs.     

Perpendicular magnetization in Fe/Ni bilayers on GaAs(0 0 1)

Following the concept of spin-injection into a semiconductor-based device, a ferromagnetic element (like a GMR multilayer structure) can be used as a spin filter. A high spin-polarization of the electrons can be realized by the preparation of a monocrystalline multilayer structure consisting of ultrathin films of a high magnetic polarization. In the case of ultrathin films, the manipulation of the easy-axis of magnetization is possible, by changing the anisotropy terms contributing to the effective anisotropy of the structure. We report on the structural and magnetic properties of Ni/Fe and Fe/Ni bilayers epitaxially grown on GaAs(0 0 1). By a proper choice of Fe and Ni sequences (Fe/Ni/GaAs) and their thickness (up to 3 ML of Fe on the top of Ni), the rotation of magnetization from the in-plane to the out-of-plane direction was achieved.     

Exchange coupling of Co/Cr(0 0 1) superlattices for in-plane and perpendicular anisotropy

We have investigated the exchange coupling of Co/Cr(0 0 1) superlattices by polar and longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements, by varying both the Co and Cr film thicknesses. At a Co thickness of ≈10 Å a nearly perpendicular anisotropy is found with antiferromagnetic order in the range of 5–15 Å of Cr thickness. For these superlattices the magnetization curve starting from remanence to saturation is characterized by a surface spin-flip transition at low field, followed by domain wall nucleation and motion, and finally by a coherent spin rotation with increasing field. Antiferromagnetic coupling is also observed for superlattices with thicker Co layers and with in-plane magnetic anisotropy.     

First principles studies of Fe/Co superlattices and multilayers with bcc (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) orientations

The layer resolved magnetic moments and magnetic anisotropy energy of Fe/Co superlattices and multilayers with bcc (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) orientations obtained from first principles simulations are reported here. The magnetic moment of Fe atoms are found to depend on the geometry, coordination number and proximity to Co atoms, whereas that of Co remains almost constant in the superlattices and multilayers. Mixing of atoms at the interface resulted in enhanced Fe magnetic moment while that of Co is unaffected. The magnetic anisotropy energy in superlattices and multilayers are found to be larger than the corresponding values of bulk counterparts. Calculated easy axis of magnetization is in the plane for all superlattice compositions considered in the study, while that in multilayers, changes with crystalline orientation and thickness of Co layers.     

Electronic structure and magnetism of V monolayer on a TM(0 0 1) (TM=Cr,Mo, W) surfaces: First-principles calculations

We investigated the electronic structure and magnetism of V monolayer (ML) on a TM(0 0 1)(TM=Cr, Mo, W) surface, using the full potential linearized augmented plane wave method based on density functional theory. General gradient approximation is used for exchange-correlation potential. The magnetic moments of the V ML's are calculated to be 1.33, 1.35, and 1.30 μ_B on Cr(0 0 1), Mo(0 0 1), and W(0 0 1) surfaces, respectively. All of the TM surfaces are coupled antiferromagnetically to the V monolayer and their magnetic moments are calculated to be −1.01, −0.26 and −0.17 μ_B for Cr, Mo and W substrates, respectively.     

Carbon-doped high-mobility hole gases on (0 0 1) and (1 1 0) GaAs

Since Stormer and Tsang have introduced the first two-dimensional hole gas (2DHG) in the GaAs/AlGaAs heterosystem, the choice of suitable dopants was limited to beryllium and silicon over the last 20 years. Both acceptor atoms have significant disadvantages, i.e. either high-diffusion rates or a limitation to specific growth directions. Utilizing a carbon filament-doping source, we prepared high-quality 2DHGs in the (0 0 1) and the nonpolar (1 1 0) crystal plane with carrier mobilies beyond 10⁶ cm²/Vs in quantum well and single interface structures. Low-temperature magnetoresistance measurements recover a large number of fractional QHE states and show a pronounced beating pattern from which the Rashba induced spin-splitting has been determined. In addition, 2DHGs have been grown on cleaved edges of (1 1 0) and (0 0 1) wafers with transport features in qualitative agreement to our findings on (1 1 0) substrates.     

Self-organized Fe nanostructures on W(1 1 0)

The magnetic domain structure of Fe wires, ribbons and islands with different shapes that have been prepared under ultra high vacuum conditions on W(1 1 0) are studied with spin polarized low energy electron microscopy. The dimensions of the nanostructures, which are of the order of tens and hundreds of nm, can be controlled by the temperature at which they are produced, by the average Fe coverage and by the substrate morphology. The domain structure of the nanostructures depends on their shape and is determined by the competition between magnetoelastic, shape and magnetocrystalline anisotropies.     

Oxygen on Fe(1 1 0): magnetic properties of the adsorbate system

Investigations concerning the electronic and magnetic properties of oxygen adsorbed on magnetized iron films were carried out by means of angle and spin resolving photoelectron spectroscopy. Iron(1 1 0), epitaxially grown on a W(1 1 0) crystal, served as the ferromagnetic substrate. Exchange splittings of the O 2p_x derived level were detected demonstrating a magnetic coupling between the chemisorbate and the iron layer. This observation indicates the presence of an induced magnetic moment within the adsorbate overlayer. Variations of the exchange splitting occurred as a function of the oxygen coverage, energy of the exciting radiation, and detection angle of the emitted photoelectrons pointing to a k₆-dependent exchange splitting. High oxygen exposures lead to a FeO overlayer at the surface, showing vanishing peak separations due to the antiferromagnetic behavior of iron oxide.     

Nonlinear magnetoelastic effects in ultrathin epitaxial FCC Co(0 0 1) films:: an ab initio study

Those linear and nonlinear magnetoelastic coupling coefficients which determine the magnetostrictive stress and the strain-induced out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy in epitaxially grown FCC Co(0 0 1) films are calculated by the ab initio density functional electron theory. The nonlinear couplings have a strong effect on the change Δσ₁^m of the in-plane magnetostrictive stress resulting from a change of the magnetization direction from [0 1 0] to [1 0 0], but a negligibly small effect on the out-of-plane anisotropy e_MCA. The calculations confirm the experimental result that the measured out-of-plane anisotropy cannot be totally attributed to volume magnetoelastic effects. Estimates are given for the nonlinear magnetoelastic coupling coefficients m₁^γ,2 and m₂^γ,2.     

Adsorption and NiO(1 0 0) formation by atomic and molecular oxygen on Ni(1 1 0)

The structure of the ordered p(2 × 1) and p(3 × 1) phases of adsorbed oxygen as well as the formation of ultrathin NiO(1 0 0) layers on a Ni(1 1 0) single crystal are investigated by grazing scattering of fast hydrogen atoms. Via ion beam triangulation based on the detection of the number of emitted electrons, we obtain direct information on the structure of oxygen adsorbates and ultrathin nickel oxide layers. For oxidation using atomic instead of molecular oxygen, the gas exposure can be reduced by almost two orders of magnitude. We compare the experimental results with computer simulations based on classical projectile trajectories for grazing scattering of fast hydrogen atoms and test structure models for oxygen adsorbed on Ni(1 1 0) and NiO(1 0 0).     

Structure and magnetism of the V/Ta(0 0 1) surface: A DFT calculation

Calculations using the density functional theory, norm-conserving pseudopotentials and the generalized gradient approximation are performed for vanadium (V) and tantalum (Ta) clean surfaces, and the V/Ta(0 0 1) system. Vanadium and Ta(0 0 1) clean surfaces are found to be nonmagnetic with large inward relaxations of 9.81% and 11.19%, respectively, in good agreement with experiment and other calculations. However, we obtained an appreciable magnetic moment of 2.24 μB for the V monolayer in the V/Ta(0 0 1) system. The inward relaxation is reduced to 6.01% for the V overlayer on Ta(0 0 1) as a result of its spin polarization. An induced magnetic moment of 0.41 μB is obtained on the Ta interfacial layer, which is found to be anti-ferromagnetically coupled with the V overlayer and the Ta layers below.     

Near-surface stresses in silicon(0 0 1)

We report here on a detailed atomistic stress analysis of the near-surface stresses on the 2 × 1 surface reconstruction on Si(0 0 1). We find that the surface stresses are spatially periodic with fairly large amplitude. We additionally investigate the stresses in the neighborhood of an S_A-type step.     

Misfit driven azimuthal orientation of NaCl domains on Ag(1 0 0)

We investigated the growth of thin NaCl films on Ag(1 0 0) by spot-profile-analysis low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED), varying extensively the growth temperature (200–500 K) and the film thickness (0.5–14 ML). The incommensurate growth of NaCl on Ag(1 0 0) yields (1 0 0)-terminated epitaxial NaCl domains, which are preferentially oriented with their [0 1 0] axis parallel to that of the substrate. At 300 K, the NaCl domains exhibit an azimuthal mosaicity by 14° around this orientation and the NaCl unit cell is laterally contracted in the first layers by 0.9% with respect to the bulk. At higher growth temperatures, the azimuthal mosaic distribution sharpens and additional distinct orientations appear, presumably due to a higher-order commensurability. The evolution of the azimuthal mosaic distribution with increasing temperature can be ascribed to both the NaCl thermal expansion and higher diffusion rates of NaCl on Ag(1 0 0). The best epitaxy, i.e. that with the highest selectivity of a specific azimuthal domain orientation, is achieved by growing NaCl films at low deposition rate (0.1 ML min⁻¹) on the Ag(1 0 0) substrate at constant high temperature (450–500 K). The observations made here can probably be applied more generally to other heterogeneous interfaces and, in particular, be used to improve the quality of thin insulating films.     

Structural and electronic characterization of the MgO/Mo(0 0 1) interface using STM

The nucleation and growth of ultrathin MgO films on Mo(0 0 1) have been investigated with scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. In the initial growth stage, the MgO forms rather uniform islands with rectangular shapes and defined orientation. This behavior reflects a preferential binding of the oxide O ions to the top positions in the Mo support, which can be realized only in confined areas due to the MgO/Mo lattice mismatch. At monolayer coverage, a characteristic square pattern becomes visible in the STM, indicating the formation of an MgO/Mo coincidence lattice. In the coincidence cell, the interface registry alternates between O and Mg ions being in Mo top positions. The resulting imaging contrast in the STM is dominated by a work-function modulation and not by a topographic effect, as demonstrated with STM-conductance and light-emission spectroscopy. The modulated work function in the coincidence cell is assigned to a small buckling of the oxide film with either O or Mg ions being closer to the Mo surface.     

Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of V/Co(0 0 1)

Based on the full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) calculations, various magnetic properties of ultra thin face centered cubic (fcc) Co(0 0 1) film and V adsorbed systems on Co(0 0 1) surface are explored. It was found that the V film grown on fcc Co(0 0 1) surface has large induced magnetic moment and the direction of magnetization is antiparallel to that of Co atom in the submonolayer coverage. Very interestingly, we found that the surface alloy and 0.5 ML adsorbed V/Co(0 0 1) systems have perpendicular magnetocrystalline anisotropy and the magnitude of anisotropy energy in 0.5 ML V on fcc Co(0 0 1) surface is greatly larger than that of surface alloy, while we observed in-plane magnetization in pure fcc Co(0 0 1) film. It was found that the spin-orbit interaction through spin-flip process cannot be ignored, therefore the simple relation with orbital anisotropy is not applicable in the interpretation of magnetocrystalline anisotropy.     

Use of film thickness and Cu additive to improve (0 0 1) texture in MgO/FePtCu(C) bilayers

A multilayer structure has been proposed that demonstrates improved (0 0 1) texture for FePt-based L1₀ perpendicular media. Achieving a strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy requires aligning the L1₀ crystallographic c-axis along the film normal. The ordered L1₀ FePt structure is tetragonal with a c/a ratio close to 0.965. This makes discriminating between the three crystallographic variants ([1 0 0], [0 1 0], and the desired [0 0 1]) difficult. Alloying FePt with Cu to reduce the c/a ratio and using a multilayer approach to keep the magnetic layers thin results in a structure with an adjustable M_rt and a strong (0 0 1) texture (rocking curve widths around 2°). This is a remarkable improvement in texture from pure FePt multilayered films or monolithic FePt(X) films. The proposed [MgO(2 nm)/Fe_50−xPt₅₀Cu_x(5 nm)]_×n structure limits grain size in the vertical (perpendicular) direction albeit not in the plane of the film. Carbon can be added to the FePtCu layer to reduce the grain size with minimal degradation of the (0 0 1) orientation.