Effect of boron concentration on the magnetic properties of (FeCoNi) 100−xBx (x=15 and 20 wt%) nanowire arrays

The Fe_14.5Co_16.5Ni₅₅B₁₅ and the Fe₁₃Co_15.5Ni_51.5B₂₀ ferromagnetic nanowires were deposited using the electrochemical deposition method. The structure of these nanowires was investigated using X-ray diffraction. Squid magnetometer was used to investigate the magnetic behavior. The hysteresis loops of 50 μm long nanowire arrays were studied as a function of boron concentration, nanowire diameter and field orientation. The competition between shape anisotropy and magnetostatic interactions played a vital role in determining the magnetic field necessary to saturate an array. The decrease in coercive field (H_c) and the squareness (SQ) of the hysteresis loop from 100 to 200 nm wire diameter for both types of compositions suggests the formation of multidomains in the nanowire.     

Magnetic anisotropy study of triangular-shaped Co nanostructures

Atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), magnetic force microscopy (MFM) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) have been used to measure the magnetic and geometrical characteristics of triangular-shaped Co structures of lateral size 730 nm and thickness 32 nm, prepared by nanosphere lithography (NSL). Evidence of in-plane six-fold magnetic anisotropy induced by the symmetry of the structure has been found. By means of XMCD measurements, performed at remanence after applying a pulsed field, a structure rotation angle-dependent oscillation of about 15% with a periodicity of 60° has been observed for both the orbital and spin moments. Furthermore, the system exhibits the angular hysteresis effect. The magnetic measurements performed by MFM show a reduction of the magnetic configurations to only two states, one quasi-single domain Y state and second, a combination of vortex and Y state.     

First-principles calculations for magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes

Based on first-principles spin-density functional calculations, we investigate the electronic and magnetic properties of Mn-doped GaN nanotubes in which two of Ga atoms are substituted by Mn atoms. Similar to the case of Mn in bulk GaN, our calculations show that Mn atoms also act as an acceptor and all of the ground states for the Mn-doped GaNNTs are ferromagnetic. Moreover, the ferromagnetism is isotropic and independent of the chirality and diameter of the nanotubes. It is found that the most favorable configuration is the first-nearest neighbor Mn model, which is mainly mediated by both the hole-hole interaction and the dipole-dipole interaction.     

Magnetic characterization of vanadium oxide/polyaniline nanotubes

We present a magnetic study of vanadium oxide nanotubes (VO_x-NTs) with polyaniline (PAni). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows the tubular shape and the multi-wall structure of the nanotubes. The static magnetic susceptibility measured at different magnetic fields shows a Curie behavior, while the magnetization versus magnetic field presents a non-linear dependence at low temperatures. Both experiments can be explained by the presence of paramagnetic ions with S = 1/2. Using Electron Paramagnetic Resonance technique, we identified as V⁴⁺(3d¹) the paramagnetic ions present in the nanostructures. All the experimental results can be explained by a fraction between 14% and 18% of V⁴⁺ with respect to the total V atoms in the system.     

Enhanced imaging of magnetic structures in micropatterned arrays of Co dots and antidots

A specific technique of numerical treatment of atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic force microscopy (MFM) signal has been developed to enhance the quality of raw images, in order both to improve their contrast and to gain better insight on the sample topography and on the local arrangement of the magnetisation vector. Basically, the technique consists in computing the optimum conformal transformation that allows one to superimpose two AFM images of the same area, acquired performing subsequent scans whose fast scan axis were mutually perpendicular, and applying the inverse transform to the second image. After MFM image superposition, the two datasets were either summed or subtracted, in order to improve the magnetic contrast. Computations have been done in a Matlab^® workspace with the help of Image Processing Toolbox 4.2. Improved MFM images obtained on both dots and antidots thin evaporated Co arrays in the demagnetised state (after performing alternate field demagnetisation parallel and perpendicular to the array plane) have been interpreted. Samples consisting of large-size patterns (1×1 mm) of circular dots/antidots with square/hexagonal lattices and minimum diameters of 1 μm were prepared by optical lithography. The magnetic film thickness was chosen depending on resist thickness, and varied between 25 and 150 nm, with a fixed ratio 1:4 between metal/resist film thickness. MFM was exploited to obtain images of either intra-dot or inter-antidot magnetic structures.     

Magnetism of Fe clusters formed by buffer-layer assisted growth on Pt(997)

The growth and magnetism of nanometer size Fe clusters on stepped Pt surfaces is investigated by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and magneto-optical Kerr effect measurements (MOKE). The clusters are formed on xenon buffer layers of varying thickness and then brought into contact with the substrate by thermal desorption of the Xe. The cluster size is controlled by the thickness of the Xe layer. It is found that clusters of diameter smaller than the Pt terrace width of 2 nm are aligned along the step edges of the Pt(997), thus forming linear cluster chains. In this arrangement, the clusters are ferromagnetic with an easy axis in the direction along the surface normal. If the cluster diameter is larger than the terrace width then the alignment along the step edges is not observed and rather large agglomerates are found which are randomly distributed over the surface. Despite their increased volume, such agglomerates are superparamagnetic with in-plane easy magnetization axis. The enhanced magnetic anisotropy energy in the smallest clusters is originating from hybridization effects at the Fe-Pt interface.     

Surface characterization of self-assembled N-Cu nanostructures

We report on the process of low energy N₂⁺ implantation and annealing of a Cu(0 0 1) surface. Through AES we study the N diffusion process as a function of the substrate temperature. With STM and LEIS we characterize the surface morphology and the electronic structure is analyzed with ARUPS. Under annealing (500 < T < 700 K) N migrates to the surface and reacts forming a Cu_xN compound that decomposes at temperatures above 700 K. LEIS measurements show that N locates on the four-fold hollow sites of the Cu(0 0 1) surface in a c(2 × 2) arrangement. Finally, a gap along the [0 0 1] azimuthal direction is determined by ARUPS. DFT calculations provide support to our conclusions.     

Metal-free spin channels in graphitic boron-nitrogen nanostructures

Evidence is given for the existence of metal-free spin channels in an insulating medium. First-principles calculations indicate the presence of an unpaired spin, in a ground state boron-nitrogen nanostructure with a carbon zig-zag chain generated by the inclusion of a disclination with either negative or positive Gaussian curvature. The spin-polarized states are delocalized on the carbon chain suggesting possible spintronics applications.     

Superconducting vortex pinning with artificial magnetic nanostructures

This review is dedicated to summarizing the recent research on vortex dynamics and pinning effects in superconducting films with artificial magnetic structures. The fabrication of hybrid superconducting/magnetic systems is presented together with the wide variety of properties that arise from the interaction between the superconducting vortex lattice and the artificial magnetic nanostructures. Specifically, we review the role that the most important parameters in the vortex dynamics of films with regular array of dots play. In particular, we discuss the phenomena that appear when the symmetry of a regular dot array is distorted from regularity towards complete disorder including rectangular, asymmetric, and aperiodic arrays. The interesting phenomena that appear include vortex-lattice reconfigurations, anisotropic dynamics, channeling, and guided motion as well as ratchet effects. The different regimes are summarized in a phase diagram indicating the transitions that take place as the characteristic distances of the array are modified respect to the superconducting coherence length. Future directions are sketched out indicating the vast open area of research in this field.     

Room Temperature Ferromagnetism and Optical Tunability in Cu Doped GaN Nanowires

GaN nanowires doped with 2at.% and 6at.% Cu ions are synthesized by chemical vapour deposition method. Structural and compositional analyses demonstrate that the as-grown nanowires are of single crystal wurtzite GaN structure. Magnetic characterizations reveal that the doped GaN nanowires exhibit room temperature ferromagnetism. The measured saturation magnetic moments are 0.37ug and 0.47ug per Cu atom at 300 K for Cu 2 at. % and 6 at. %, respectively. The photoluminescence spectra show that Cu dopant can tune the band gap of the GaN, which leads to a red shift of band-edge emission with increasing dopant concentration.     

CoPt alloy grown on the WSe2(0 0 0 1) van der Waals surface

The structural and magnetic properties of 3-nm-thick CoPt alloys grown on WSe₂(0 0 0 1) at various temperature are investigated. Deposition at room temperature leads to the formation of a chemically disordered fcc CoPt alloy with [1 1 1] orientation. Growth at elevated temperatures induces L1₀ chemical order starting at 470 K accompanied with an increase in grain size and a change in grain morphology. As a consequence of the [1 1 1] growth direction, the CoPt grains can adopt one of the three possible variants of the L1₀ phase with tetragonal c-axis tilted from the normal to the film plane direction at 54°. The average long-range order parameter is found to be 0.35(±0.05) and does not change with the increase in the deposition temperature from 570 to 730 K. This behavior might be related to Se segregation towards the growing facets and surface disorder effects promoted by a high surface-to-volume ratio. Magnetic studies reveal a superparamagnetic behavior for the films grown at 570 and 730 K in agreement with the film morphology and degree of chemical order. The measurements at 10 K reveal the orientation of the easy axis of the magnetization lying basically in the film plane.     

Growth of crystalline/amorphous biphase Sm-Fe-Ta-N magnetic nanodroplets

Thin films of biphase (amorphous/crystalline) magnetic Sm-Fe-Ta-N nanodroplets were fabricated at room temperature with 157 nm pulse laser deposition in nitrogen from a Sm_13.8Fe_82.2Ta_4.0 target. The 50-100 nm biphase spherical nanodroplets consist of a 5-10 nm internal crystal portion surrounded by the external amorphous phase. Nitrogen fixation in the nanodroplets occurred in the plume. The films exhibit a ferromagnetic response of 2.5 kOe coercivity at room temperature. With further annealing and thermal treatment in nitrogen, the coercivity was increased to 5.0 kOe. The surrounding amorphous layer prevents post-ablation oxidization of the crystalline magnetic nucleus of the nanodroplet.     

STM study of the initial stages of C60 adsorption on the Pt(1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface

We have studied the initial stages of adsorption of C₆₀ on the Pt (1 1 0)-(1 × 2) surface by means of STM. At room temperature, fullerene molecules adsorb in the troughs between two adjacent Pt rows of the missing row reconstruction. Mobility over the terraces is negligible, denoting strong bonding with the surface, also testified by a well-defined orientation of fullerene monomers with respect to the substrate. Upon annealing at 750 K, molecular migration towards kinks and step edges occurs, where small islands nucleation begins. A commensurate registry with the substrate is maintained by small (5-10 molecules) C₆₀ aggregates, leading to expanded nearest-neighbour distances with respect to those found in hexagonal close packed fullerene ad-islands grown on other metallic substrates.     

Experimental analysis of the fast magnetization dynamics in high perpendicular anisotropy Co/Pt nanostructures

We present preliminary results for magnetization dynamics in high perpendicular anisotropy Co/Pt cross-shaped nanostructures submitted to a single/train out-of-plane field pulses. For this, a fabrication process has been developed to obtain high-quality microwave test structures. Using extraordinary Hall effect, we measure quasistatic hysteresis loops while applying either a single or a train of field pulses of given amplitude (32 mT at maximum), variable duration (0.2–10 ns) and repetition frequency (1–100 kHz). We get that field pulses affect only one side of the hysteresis loops without any clear change in the squareness of the loop. Such behavior can be most probably attributed to pulse-induced nucleation of reverse domains in the cross area. The measured shift in coercive field decreases linearly with the logarithm of the pulse duration and two switching regimes that get connected for pulse duration around 1 ns have been observed. Switching probability with single pulse showed that field pulse of 10 ns and 32 mT of magnitude has the same effect of 2 mT static fields.     

Growth and evolution of epitaxial erbium disilicide nanowires on Si (001)

Sub-monolayer amounts of Er deposited onto Si (001)react with the substrate to form epitaxial nanowires of crystalline ErSi₂. The growth of uniaxial structures occurs because the different crystal structures of ErSi₂ and Si have a good lattice match along one Si<110> crystallographic axis but a significant mismatch along the perpendicular Si<110> axis. The nucleation, growth, and subsequent evolution of ErSi₂ nanowires were investigated as functions of erbium coverage on the Si (001) surface, annealing time, and annealing temperature. Low annealing temperatures (620 °C) and times (5 min) produced ErSi₂ nanowires with widths of a few nanometers, heights less than one nanometer, and lengths of several hundred nanometers. For longer annealing times at low temperature, the surface roughened without significant ripening of the wires. Annealing at intermediate temperatures (∼700 °C) caused stacking faults to form along the long axis of the nanowires and their lengths to ripen. At high temperature (800 °C), the wires broke apart into short segments with stacking faults. Received: 30 January 2002 / Accepted: 31 January 2002 / Published online: 3 May 2002     

Effects of precursor types of Fe and Ni components on the properties of NiFe2O4 powders prepared by spray pyrolysis

The effects of the precursor types of Ni and Fe components on the morphology, mean size, and magnetic property of NiFe₂O₄ powders prepared by spray pyrolysis from the spray solution, with citric acid were studied. The precursor powders with hollow and thin wall structure turned to the nano-sized NiFe₂O₄ powders after post-treatment at a temperature of 800 °C. The nickel ferrite powders obtained from the spray solution with ferric chloride had nanometer sizes and narrow size distributions irrespective of the types of nickel precursor. The nickel ferrite powders obtained from the spray solution with ferric nitrate and nickel chloride also had nanometer size and narrow size distribution. The saturation magnetizations of the NiFe₂O₄ powders changed from 37 to 42 emu/g according to the types of the Fe and Ni precursors. The saturation magnetizations of the NiFe₂O₄ powders increased with increasing the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of the powders.     

Correlation between the real Co particle size distributions and the magnetic properties of GMR Cu–10Co alloy

The results of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic and magneto-resistivity investigations of the Cu–10Co (wt%) giant magneto-resistance (GMR) melt-spun ribbons are reported and discussed. To obtain different distributions of ferromagnetic Co particles in a non-magnetic Cu matrix, the alloy was aged at 550 °C for 0.5, 1, 2, 16, and 32 h. Particle size measurements were performed using quantitative TEM metallography methods. Two size classes of Co particles are identified: primary particles (P) precipitated during the melt-spinning process and the secondary particles (S) precipitated during the ageing process. The results of magnetization and coercitivity are correlated with the results of calculations based on the real Co particle distributions determined from TEM micrographs. The behavior of magnetization and coercive force in function of ageing time is explained as related with changes of a mean particle size. It is shown that the GMR effect is not influenced by Co particles distribution for the S particles with the mean size less than 10 nm, whereas for Co distributions with larger mean diameters, the GMR effect is strongly reduced.     

Effect of self-assembled Ge nanostructures on Si surface electronic properties

Incorporating self-assembled Ge islands on Si surfaces into electronic devices has been suggested as a means of forming small features without fine-scale litho- graphy. For use in electronic devices, the electrical properties of the deposited Ge and their relation to the underlying Si substrate must be known. This report presents the results of a surface photovoltage investigation of the surface energy barrier as increasing amounts of Ge are added to a Si surface by chemical vapor deposition. The results are interpreted in terms of band discontinuities and surface states. The surface barrier increases as a wetting layer is deposited and continues to increase as defect-free islands form. It saturates as the islands grow. As the amount of Ge continues increasing, defects form, and the surface barrier decreases because of the resulting allowed states at the Ge/Si interface. Qualitatively similar behavior is found for Si(001) and Si(111). Covering the Ge with Si reduces the surface-state density and possibly modifies the wetting layer, decreasing the barrier to one more characteristic of Si. Initial hydrogen termination of the surface decreases the active surface-state density. As the H desorbs, the surface barrier increases until it stabilizes as the surface oxidizes. The behavior is briefly correlated with scanning-tunneling spectroscopy data. Received: 13 November 2000 / Accepted: 14 November 2000 / Published online: 23 May 2001     

Fabrication and characterization of amorphous silica nanostructures

Large-scale amorphous silica nanostructures, including nanowires, nanotubes and flowerlike nanowire bunches depending on the position, have been fabricated on silicon wafer through a cheap route under the assistance of gold and germanium. Accompanying the observation of blue-green light emission, comprehensive micro-structural characterization reveals that the growth of nanostructures is catalyzed only by gold whereas the final morphology of nanostructures depends on the location to germanium ball. Au₂Si, a compound of gold and silicon, is also disclosed as an intermediate state during the catalysis. Correspondingly, a growth scheme is proposed based on the experimental results and the vapor-liquid-solid mechanism.     

Preparation and characterization of C54 TiSi2 nanoislands on Si (1 1 1) by laser deposition of TiO2

We present the preparation of C54 TiSi₂ nanoislands on Si (1 1 1) with a method of the pulsed laser deposition of titanium oxide thin films. The TiO₂ thin films with nominal thicknesses of 1 nm on Si (1 1 1) were annealed at 850 °C for about 4 h in situ. The X-ray diffraction patterns and the X-ray photoelectron spectra indicate that the nanoislands are in C54 TiSi₂ phase. The characterization using a scanning tunneling microscope shows that the nanoislands with triangular, polygonal and rod-like shapes on Si (1 1 1) exhibit the Volmer-Weber growth mode. The sizes of the polygonal islands distribute in two separated ranges. For the small islands, they have a narrow lateral size distribution centered at 4 nm and a height range in 0.6-3.6 nm, while for the large islands, their lateral sizes are in the range of 12-40 nm and the heights in the range of 4-9 nm. The sizes of the well-shaped triangular islands are intermediate with the lateral sizes in range of 5-20 nm and the heights of 2-3.5 nm. The rod-like islands are about 50-200 nm in length, 5 nm in height and about 15-20 nm in width. The origination of the various shapes of the nanoislands is attributed to the symmetry of Si (1 1 1) substrate and the lattice mismatch between the C54 TiSi₂ and the Si (1 1 1) surface.