AVS 51st International Symposium
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Wednesday Sessions
       Session MI-WeA

Paper MI-WeA7
Growth and Study of Fe/Mn@sub 3@N@sub 2@(010)Bilayers for Use in Spintronics Applications

Wednesday, November 17, 2004, 4:00 pm, Room 304A

Session: Exchange Coupling, Surfaces, and Interfaces
Presenter: R. Yang, Ohio University
Authors: R. Yang, Ohio University
M.B. Haider, Ohio University
H.A. Al-Brithen, Ohio University
A.R. Smith, Ohio University
Correspondent: Click to Email
Exchange biasing(EB)systems have drawn much attention in recent years, prompted by the intriguing physics and its prominent role in magnetic sensing devices.@footnote 1,2,3@ Yet, the detailed mechanism, which includes the spins at the ferromagnetic(FM)/antiferromagnetic(aFM)interface, is not fully understood. In this paper, we investigate the growth of an EB system using Fe/Mn@sub 3@N@sub 2@ (010) bilayers. The Mn3N2 (010) surface aFM magnetic structure is well understood by means of recent spin-polarized scanning tunneling microscope (SP-STM) studies.@footnote 4@ Mn@sub3@N@sub 2@ has a face-centered tetragonal(fct)rocksalt-type structure. The magnetic moments of the Mn atoms are FM within (001) planes, and are layerwise aFM along [001]. The Néel temperature of Mn3N2 is 925K.@footnote 4,5@ The next step is to study the initial stages of Fe growth on this surface. In this paper, we try to investigate the atomistic changes to the surface which occur at the initial stages of the growth. The growth begins with a 440 nm thick Mn@sub 3@N@sub 2@ aFM layer and substrate is MgO(001). After that, a small coverage (0-10ML) of Fe is deposited in different growth temperatures in the range 350-550@super o@C. The growth is monitored by reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). After growth, samples are transferred under ultra high vacuum (UHV) directly to STM analysis chamber . STM images reveal a stepped surface with terrace width about 50 Å . The dependence of the film properties on growth parameters such as growth temperature, film thickness and annealing time will be discussed. @FootnoteText@ @footnote 1@W. H. Meiklejohn, et al., Phys. Rev. 102,1413 (1956).@footnote 2@ C. L. Chien, et al., Phys. Rev. B 68, 014418 (2003).@footnote 3@ L. Ritchie, et al., J. Mag. Mag. Mater. 247, 187 (2002).@footnote 4@ H.Q. Yang, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 226101 (2002).@footnote 5@ G. Kreiner, et al., J. Alloys Compd. 183, 345 (1992).