| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1544605 | Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures | 2014 | 5 Pages |
highlights•Studies on Ni/W; a less understood material studied system.•Ultra thin films of Ni grown and the effects of ion bombardment on the same.•Detailed analysis of the structural and magnetic properties.
The changes in the morphological and structural properties of monolayer nickel thin films on tungsten induced by low energy Ar+ ion bombardment at varying fluencies have been explored using scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction, respectively, in this work. ~1 monolayer (ML) nickel films were grown on W(1 0 0) by electron beam evaporation under ultra high vacuum conditions at room temperature. It was found that the pseudomorphic growth observed in as-grown films was disrupted by the ion bombardment process with additional phases of Ni appearing in the ion bombarded samples. Increase in bombardment time lead to a pronounced phase transition to the hcp phase of Ni. Also, the ion bombardment induced the formation of larger nanostructures (with increasing particulate sizes) from the epitaxial monolayer in the as-deposited sample. Further, the magnetization and magnetic orientation were studied and it was observed that the bombardment induced a weak ferromagnetism in as-grown paramagnetic Ni film.
Graphical abstractThe changes in the morphological and structural properties of monolayer nickel thin films on tungsten induced by low energy Ar+ ion bombardment at varying fluencies have been explored using scanning tunneling microscopy and low energy electron diffraction. Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide
