Introduction of VN underlayer and caplayer for preparation of Mn4N(001) single-crystal thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Kosuke Imamura; Mitsuru Ohtake; Shinji Isogami; Masaaki Futamoto; Tetsuroh Kawai; Fumiyoshi Kirino; Nobuyuki Inaba

doi:10.1063/9.0000572

AIP Advances (Feb 2023)

Introduction of VN underlayer and caplayer for preparation of Mn4N(001) single-crystal thin film with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Kosuke Imamura,
Mitsuru Ohtake,
Shinji Isogami,
Masaaki Futamoto,
Tetsuroh Kawai,
Fumiyoshi Kirino,
Nobuyuki Inaba

Affiliations

Kosuke Imamura: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
Mitsuru Ohtake: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
Shinji Isogami: Research Center for Magnetic and Spintronic Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba 305-0047, Japan
Masaaki Futamoto: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
Tetsuroh Kawai: Faculty of Engineering, Yokohama National University, 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya, Yokohama 240-8501, Japan
Fumiyoshi Kirino: Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, 12-8 Ueno-koen, Taito, Tokyo 110 8714, Japan
Nobuyuki Inaba: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jyonan, Yonezawa 992 8510, Japan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/9.0000572
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 13, no. 2
pp. 025110 – 025110-5

Abstract

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A Mn4N thin film is prepared on MgO(001) single-crystal substrate by introducing VN underlayer and caplayer which are respectively expected to inhibit the oxidation from substrate and surface. The thin film is prepared by ultra-high vacuum radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The growth, the structure, and the magnetic properties are investigated. A fully epitaxial VN/Mn4N/VN film with sharp interfaces is formed on the substrate. The Mn4N film has low out-of-plane and in-plane orientation dispersions of about 1° and high N site order degree of 0.88. The lattice of Mn4N film is slightly deformed along the perpendicular direction (c/a = 0.9872) possibly due to accommodation of the lattice mismatch at Mn4N/VN interfaces. The film shows a low saturation magnetization of 85 kA/m (85 emu/cm3) and a strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The present study has shown that introduction of VN underlayer and caplayer is useful for preparation of well-defined Mn4N thin films with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy.

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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