Abstract
We study antiferromagnetic coupling and interface diffusion in Fe/Si/MgO/Fe structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The Fe/Si/Fe samples with a 1.2-nm-thick Si spacer demonstrate antiferromagnetic coupling J(1) similar to-1.5 mJ/m(2) and prevailing interdiffusion at the top Si/Fe interface, as revealed by conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy. For combined Si/MgO spacers with ...
Abstract
We study antiferromagnetic coupling and interface diffusion in Fe/Si/MgO/Fe structures grown by molecular beam epitaxy. The Fe/Si/Fe samples with a 1.2-nm-thick Si spacer demonstrate antiferromagnetic coupling J(1) similar to-1.5 mJ/m(2) and prevailing interdiffusion at the top Si/Fe interface, as revealed by conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy. For combined Si/MgO spacers with 0.9-nm-thick Si, interdiffusion continuously reduces upon changing the MgO thickness from 0.3 to 0.5 nm accompanied by a decrease of antiferromagnetic coupling from vertical bar J(1)vertical bar similar to 1 mJ/m(2) to vertical bar J(1)vertical bar similar to 0.002 mJ/m(2). We emphasize that monolayer-scaled engineering of insulating spacers is a promising tool for the precise control of antiferromagnetic coupling and interface diffusion. (c) 2012 The Japan Society of Applied Physics
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