Electronic structure of Fe/MgO/Fe multilayer stack by X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Journal Article · Wed May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4862380· OSTI ID:22273873

Gautam, Sanjeev; Asokan, Kandasami; Pal Singh, Jitendra ^[1]; Chang, Fan-Hsiu; Lin, Hong-Ji ^[2]

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1. Materials Science Division, Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi 110-067 (India)
2. National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30 076, Taiwan (China)

The interface properties of Fe/MgO/Fe multilayer stack were investigated by using X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD). The magnetic multilayers were deposited by electron beam evaporation method, which exhibits the attributes of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA). XAS analysis shows that Fe-layer forms a Fe-O-rich interface region with MgO-layer and a sum-rule analysis of the XMCD estimates the average magnetic moment of 2.31 ± 0.1 μ{sub B} per Fe-atom. XAS and XMCD studies indicate the formation of a heterostructure (Fe/FeO/Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) on the interface. A phase transition in Fe-O stoichiometry at interface is also observed at low temperature (90 K), which may be useful in magnetic storage technology.

• OSTI ID: 22273873
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 17; Conference: 55. annual conference on magnetism and magnetic materials, Atlanta, GA (United States), 14-18 Nov 2010; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY
ANISOTROPY
ELECTRON BEAMS
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
HETEROJUNCTIONS
INTERFACES
IRON
IRON OXIDES
LAYERS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MAGNETIC CIRCULAR DICHROISM
MAGNETIC MOMENTS
SUM RULES
X RADIATION
X-RAY SPECTROSCOPY