Co/CoAl/Co trilayer fabrication using spontaneous intermixing of Co and Al: Molecular dynamics simulation

A multilayer structure was simulated using spontaneous intermixing of Co and Al in epitaxial Co(1 1 2¯ 0)/CoAl/Co(1 1 2¯ 0) structures. When Al atoms with 0.1 eV energy were deposited on Co(1 1 2¯ 0), an Al(1 0 0) thin film was grown without any intermixing. Interestingly, during subsequent deposition of Co atoms on the grown Al(1 0 0) thin film, an intermixed layer of ordered CoAl structure was spontaneously formed and a highly oriented Co(1 1 2¯ 0) crystalline phase was grown above the intermixed region. From the calculations of nearest neighbor distributions, various compositions of CoxAl1−x structures were observed in the mixed region.