Magnetic anisotropy of half-metallic Co2FeAl ultra-thin films epitaxially grown on GaAs(001)

Bolin Lai; Xiaoqian Zhang; Xianyang Lu; Long Yang; Junlin Wang; Yequan Chen; Yafei Zhao; Yao Li; Xuezhong Ruan; Xuefeng Wang; Jun Du; Wenqing Liu; Fengqiu Wang; Liang He; Bo Liu; Yongbing Xu

doi:10.1063/1.5087227

AIP Advances (Jun 2019)

Magnetic anisotropy of half-metallic Co2FeAl ultra-thin films epitaxially grown on GaAs(001)

Bolin Lai,
Xiaoqian Zhang,
Xianyang Lu,
Long Yang,
Junlin Wang,
Yequan Chen,
Yafei Zhao,
Yao Li,
Xuezhong Ruan,
Xuefeng Wang,
Jun Du,
Wenqing Liu,
Fengqiu Wang,
Liang He,
Bo Liu,
Yongbing Xu

Affiliations

Bolin Lai: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Xiaoqian Zhang: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Xianyang Lu: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Long Yang: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Junlin Wang: York-Nanjing Joint Centre (YNJC) for Spintronics and Nano Engineering, Department of Electronics, The University of York, YO10 3DD, United Kingdom
Yequan Chen: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Yafei Zhao: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Yao Li: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Xuezhong Ruan: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Xuefeng Wang: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Jun Du: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Department of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Wenqing Liu: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Fengqiu Wang: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Liang He: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Bo Liu: Zhejiang Hikstor Technology Co., Ltd., Hangzhou 311305, China
Yongbing Xu: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Microstructures, School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5087227
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 6
pp. 065002 – 065002-5

Abstract

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Single crystalline Co2FeAl films with different thicknesses varying from 3.6 to 10.6 nm have been grown on GaAs (001) using Molecule Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The magnetic characteristics were investigated by in-situ magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). For all the samples, the angle dependent magnetization energy has a relatively high and steep peak around [110] direction which is the hard axis, and a wide basin from [11¯0] to [100] which is the range of the easy axis. More interestingly, the magnetic anisotropy includes a strong uniaxial component due to the Co2FeAl/GaAs interface, a cubic one from Co2FeAl crystalline structure, and an unexpected localized anisotropy term around the [110] direction. All the three anisotropy components overlap their own hard axis around [110] direction resulting in a steep energy barrier, which leads to unusual inverted hysteresis loops around [110]. Our findings add a building block for using half-metallic Co2FeAl thin films in the application of magnetic storage devices.

Published in AIP Advances

ISSN: 2158-3226 (Online)
Publisher: AIP Publishing LLC
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Science: Physics
Website: http://aipadvances.aip.org/

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