IUVSTA 15th International Vacuum Congress (IVC-15), AVS 48th International Symposium (AVS-48), 11th International Conference on Solid Surfaces (ICSS-11)
    Magnetic Interfaces and Nanostructures Thursday Sessions
       Session MI-ThP

Paper MI-ThP4
Growth of Mn on Fe(001): Surface Alloy Formation and Multilayer Growth

Thursday, November 1, 2001, 5:30 pm, Room 134/135

Session: Magnetic Thin Films & Surfaces Poster Session
Presenter: H. van Kempen, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Authors: T. Yamada, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
M.M.J. Bischoff, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
A.J. Quinn, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
T. Mizoguchi, Gakushuin University, Japan
H. van Kempen, University of Nijmegen, The Netherlands
Correspondent: Click to Email
A complicated relationship is usually found between the magnetic configuration of a magnetic thin film, the crystallographic structure and the electronic structure. Mn films on Fe(001) are the ultimate example of a system where all these properties are interwoven. Conflicting results are, e.g., reported on the magnetic properties, which suggest a strong dependence on impurities, intermixing, and growth mode. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) is the ideal technique to tackle this problem, since it allows studying both the atomic structure in the conventional constant current mode and the electronic structure in the spectroscopic mode. In this contribution, it will be shown that for deposition of submonolayers at temperature s above 400K, Mn atoms are place exchanged with Fe substrate atoms. Locally a c(2x2) MnFe surface alloy is formed. Spectroscopy measurements will be presented for incorporated Mn atoms, pure Mn islands, and the local c(2x2) MnFe alloy structures which all show characteristic features in the dI/dV spectrum. For growth of thicker Mn films at 400K, intermixed Fe atoms can still be observed until the third layer. Analysis of the step heights gives evidence that the structure relaxes after the second layer. From the fourth layer upon, spectroscopy measurements reveal a feature in the dI/dV spectrum which strength oscillates with layer thickness and therefore seems to be related with the reported antiferromagnetic coupling of the Mn layers. The spin-polarized nature of these surface states can be used to study the surface magnetism on a local scale in spin-polarized tunneling experiments. Experiments with Fe covered tungsten tips will be discussed.