Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
1674231 Thin Solid Films 2007 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

The Fe3Si(24 nm)/CaF2(2 nm)/Fe3Si(12 nm) magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) structures were grown epitaxially on CaF2/Si(111) by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). The 12-nm-thick Fe3Si underlayer was grown epitaxially on CaF2/Si(111) at approximately 400 °C; however, the surface of the Fe3Si film was very rough, and thus a lot of pinholes are considered to exist in the 2-nm-thick CaF2 barrier layer. The average roughness (Ra) of the CaF2 barrier layer was 7.8 nm. This problem was overcome by low-temperature deposition of Fe and Si at 80 °C on CaF2/Si(111), followed by annealing at 250 °C for 30 min to form the Fe3Si layer. The Ra roughness was significantly reduced down to approximately 0.26 nm. A hysteresis loop with coercive field Hc of approximately 25 Oe was obtained in the magnetic field dependence of Kerr rotation at room temperature (RT).

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Materials Science Nanotechnology
Authors
, , , , ,