Solid-state synthesis and phase transformations in Ni/Fe films: Structural and magnetic studies

We have used X-ray diffraction, volume magnetocrystalline anisotropy constant and resistance measurements to study solid-state synthesis in Ni(0 0 1)/Fe(0 0 1), Ni/Fe(0 0 1) and Ni/Fe thin films with the atomic ratio between Fe and Ni of 1:1 (1Fe:1Ni), and 3:1 (3Fe:1Ni). We have found that the formation of Ni3Fe and NiFe phases in the 1Fe:1Ni films takes place at temperatures ∼620 and ∼720 K, correspondingly. In the case of the 3Fe:1Ni films the solid-state synthesis starts with Ni3Fe and NiFe phase formation at the same temperatures as for the 1Fe:1Ni films. The increasing of annealing temperature above 820 K leads to the nucleation of a paramagnetic γpar phase at the FeNi/Fe interface. The final products of solid-state synthesis in the Ni(0 0 1)/Fe(0 0 1) thin films are crystallites which consist of the epitaxially intergrown NiFe and γpar phases according to the [1 0 0](0 0 1)NiFe||[1 0 0](0 0 1)γpar orientation relationship. The crystalline perfection and epitaxial growth of the (NiFe+γpar) crystallites on the MgO(0 0 1) surface allow to distinguish (0 0 2)γpar and (0 0 2)NiFe X-ray peaks (the cell parameters are: a(γpar)=0.3600±0.0005 nm and a(NiFe)=0.3578±0.0005 nm, correspondingly). At low temperatures the paramagnetic γpar phase undergoes the martensite γpar→α′γpar→α′ phase transition which can be hindered by thermal and epitaxial strains and epitaxial clamping with a MgO substrate. On the basis of the studies of the thin-film solid-state synthesis we predict the existence of two novel structural phase transformations at the temperatures of about 720 and 820 K for alloys of the invar region of the Fe–Ni system.