Abstract
The chemical, structural, and electronic properties of MgO/Fe(001) and $\text{MgO}/\text{Fe}(001)\text{\ensuremath{-}}p(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)\text{O}$ interfaces for magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) have been widely investigated by means of electron spectroscopy. In particular, we present a detailed analysis of the spin-resolved electronic structure above the Fermi level, carried out by spin-polarized inverse photoemission and absorbed current spectroscopy. The MgO barrier presents good crystallinity and sharp interfaces when grown both onto Fe(001) and $\text{Fe}(001)\text{\ensuremath{-}}p(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)\text{O}$. Moreover, we find that the exchange splitting of unoccupied bands is essentially the same for the two MgO/Fe interfaces, even though it is different for the two starting surfaces, being larger in $\text{Fe}(001)\text{\ensuremath{-}}p(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)\text{O}$ than in Fe(001). Our findings indicate that $\text{Fe}(001)\text{\ensuremath{-}}p(1\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)\text{O}$ is a good candidate for the realization of heterostructures for magnetic tunnel junctions because of its high chemical stability and reproducibility, as compared to clean Fe(001).
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