Influence of growth morphology on the Neel temperature of CrRu thin films and heterostructures
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Date
Authors
Prinsloo, A.R.E.
Derrett, H.A.
Hellwig, O.
Fullerton, E.E.
Alberts, H.L.
Van den Berg, N.G.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
Dimensionality effects on epitaxial and polycrystalline Cr1-xRux alloy thin films and in Cr/Cr–Ru heterostructures are reported. X-ray analysis on Cr0.9965Ru0.0035 epitaxial films indicates an increase in the coherence length in growth directions(100) and (110) with increasing thickness(d), in the range 20≤d≤300nm. Atomic force microscopy studies on these films show pronounced vertical growth for d>50nm, resulting in the formation of columnar structures. The Néel temperatures (TN) of the Cr0.9965Ru0.0035 films show anomalous behaviour as a function of d at thickness d≈50 nm. It is interesting to note that this thickness corresponds to that for which a change in film morphology occurs. Experiments on epitaxial Cr1-xRux thin films, with 0≤x≤0.013 and d = 50 nm, give TN–x curves that correspond well with that of bulk Cr1-xRux alloys. Studies on Cr/Cr0.9965Ru0.0035 superlattices prepared on MgO (100), with the Cr layer thickness varied between 10 and 50nm, keeping the Cr0.9965Ru0.0035 thickness constantat 10nm, indicate a sharp decrease in TN as the Cr separation layers reaches a thickness of 30nm; ascribed to spin density wave pinning in the Cr layers for d< 30nm by the adjacent CrRu layers.
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Keywords
Cr alloy, Epitaxial thin film, Spin density wave, Electrical resistivity, Neel temperature, CrRu thin films
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Citation
A.R.E.Prinsloo,et al.,J.Magn.Magn.Mater.(2009),doi:10.1016/j.jmmm.2009.07.063