Epitaxial Heusler alloy Co2FeSi films on Si(111) substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy

M Zander (1) , J Herfort (1) , K Kumakura (1) , H.-P Schönherr (1) , A Trampert (1)

1 PDI - Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik

The influence of growth temperature on the structural and magnetic properties of Heusler alloy Co 2 FeSi films grown on Si(111) substrates has been studied. Reflection high energy diffraction (RHEED), double crystal x-ray diffraction (DCXRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements revealed that Co 2 FeSi layers were epitaxially grown on Si(111) substrates in an optimized growth temperature range 150 @BULLET C< T G < 200 @BULLET C. From double crystal x-ray diffraction measurements and transmission electron microscopy , it was shown that in the optimized temperature range the Co 2 FeSi/Si(111) films crystallize in the B2 + L2 1 structures. All layers are ferromagnetic and well-ordered films on Si(111) show high magnetic moments with an average value of (1140 ± 250) emu/cm 3, which is in good agreement with the value of bulk Co 2 FeSi at 300 K. The magnetic anisotropy is correlated to the structural properties of the layers.

Mots clés: 68.35.Ct; 75.50.Cc; 81.15.Hi

M Zander, J Herfort, K Kumakura, H.-P Schönherr, A Trampert. Epitaxial Heusler alloy Co2FeSi films on Si(111) substrates grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 2010, 43 (30), pp.305004. ⟨10.1088/0022-3727/43/30/305004⟩. ⟨hal-00569660⟩