A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Interface characterization of Co2MnGe/Rh2CuSn Heusler multilayers
Authors: Ronny Knut, Peter Svedlindh, Oleg Mryasov, Klas Gunnarsson, Peter Warnicke, D A Arena, Matts Björck, Andrew J C Dennison, Anindita Sahoo, Sumanta Mukherjee, D D Sarma, Sari Granroth, Mihaela Gorgoi, Olof Karis
Publisher: AMER PHYSICAL SOC
Publishing place: COLLEGE PK; ONE PHYSICS ELLIPSE, COLLEGE PK, MD 20740-3844 USA
Publication year: 2013
Journal: Physical Review B
Journal name in source: Physical Review B
Journal acronym: Phys.Rev.B
Number in series: 13
Volume: 88
Issue: 13
First page : 134407
Last page: 134407
Number of pages: 8
ISSN: 1098-0121
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.134407
Abstract
To address the amount of disorder and interface diffusion induced by annealing, all-Heusler multilayer structures, consisting of ferromagnetic Co2MnGe and nonmagnetic Rh2CuSn layers of varying thicknesses, have been investigated by means of hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. We find evidence for a 4 angstrom thick magnetically dead layer that, together with the identified interlayer diffusion, are likely reasons for the unexpectedly small magnetoresistance found for current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance devices based on this all-Heusler system. We find that diffusion begins already at comparably low temperatures between 200 and 250 degrees C, where Mn appears to be most prone to diffusion.
To address the amount of disorder and interface diffusion induced by annealing, all-Heusler multilayer structures, consisting of ferromagnetic Co2MnGe and nonmagnetic Rh2CuSn layers of varying thicknesses, have been investigated by means of hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. We find evidence for a 4 angstrom thick magnetically dead layer that, together with the identified interlayer diffusion, are likely reasons for the unexpectedly small magnetoresistance found for current-perpendicular-to-plane giant magnetoresistance devices based on this all-Heusler system. We find that diffusion begins already at comparably low temperatures between 200 and 250 degrees C, where Mn appears to be most prone to diffusion.
Keywords:
BAND-STRUCTURE, DISORDER, ELEMENTS, HALF-METALLIC FERROMAGNETS, MAGNETORESISTANCE, Physics, RAY CIRCULAR-DICHROISM
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