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Title: Effect of Electrode and EuO Thickness on EuO-Electrode Interface in Tunneling Spin Filter

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2176590· OSTI ID:930568

The effect of electrode material and EuO film thickness on the interface between the two was studied. Of the electrodes examined, yttrium was found to decrease the formation of the nonmagnetic oxide Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3}. By decomposing the x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) spectra of the samples with different electrodes against the reference EuO and Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3} spectra, the relative fraction of these two species was quantified. Multilayers with silver electrodes had the highest amount of Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3}, about 41%, whereas aluminum had 28% compared to the less than 5% observed for the multilayers with yttrium electrodes. A slight decrease in the fraction of Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3} with increasing EuO thickness was found. Angle dependent XAS measurements, done on 80 A{sup o} EuO film, indicated the presence of Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3} at high grazing angles which then decreased drastically with decreasing grazing angle. This indicated that the Eu{sub 2}O{sub 3} was localized at the EuO-electrode interface.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source
Sponsoring Organization:
Doe - Office Of Science
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-98CH10886
OSTI ID:
930568
Report Number(s):
BNL-80748-2008-JA; JAPIAU; TRN: US200904%%594
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 99, Issue 8; ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English