Preparation and characterization of highly L2{sub 1}-ordered full-Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}FeAl{sub 0.5}Si{sub 0.5} thin films for spintronics device applications

Journal Article · Mon Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2008 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2940595· OSTI ID:21120777

Wenhong, Wang; Sukegawa, Hiroaki; Rong, Shan; Furubayashi, Takao; Inomata, Koichiro ^[1]

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1. Magnetic Materials Center, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba 305-0047 (Japan)

We report the investigation of structure and magnetic properties of full-Heusler alloy Co{sub 2}FeAl{sub 0.5}Si{sub 0.5} (CFAS) thin films grown on MgO-buffered MgO (001) substrates through magnetron sputtering. It was found that single-crystal CFAS thin films with high degree of L2{sub 1} ordering and sufficiently flat surface could be obtained after postdeposition annealing. All the films show a distinct uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis of magnetization along the in-plane [110] direction. These results indicate that the use of the MgO buffer for CFAS is a promising approach for achieving a higher tunnel magnetoresistance ratio, and thus for spintronics device applications.

• OSTI ID: 21120777
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 92, Issue 22; Other Information: DOI: 10.1063/1.2940595; (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANISOTROPY
ANNEALING
COBALT ALLOYS
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
HEUSLER ALLOYS
IRON ALLOYS
MAGNESIUM OXIDES
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIZATION
MAGNETORESISTANCE
MONOCRYSTALS
SILICON ALLOYS
SPUTTERING
SUBSTRATES
THIN FILMS
TUNNEL EFFECT