Abstract
It seemed to be possible to distort the Fe crystal lattice in Fe/Mn multilayers, because the atomic radii of α-Fe and α-Mn with cubic crystal lattice are 1.26 and 1.29 Å, respectively. It is very interesting to investigate how crystallographic and magnetic characteristics of the Fe/Mn multilayers were changed by modulating the thickness of Fe and Mn layers. In this study, 2000-Å-thick Fe/Mn multilayers with sharp periodicity were deposited on plasma-free substrate Si wafer by the facing target sputtering method. The Ar gas pressure pAr was set at 2 mTorr. Deposition rates of Fe and Mn layers were 5 and 2 Å/s, respectively. The thicknesses of Fe and Mn, δFe and δMn, were in the range of 20–200 Å and 5–100 Å, respectively. The crystallites in Fe and Mn layers revealed the distinct orientation of α-Fe(110) and α-Mn(411) planes, respectively. The Fe(110) interplanar distance dFe increases from value close to Mn(411) interplanar distance dMn to that close to dFe with increase of the Fe layer thickness δFe in the range of 10–100 Å. The distortion of Fe crystal lattice increased with decrease of δFe and increase of interface number. The difference between the saturation magnetization 4πMs measured for the specimen multilayers and that calculated for the single layer films of simply diluted alloy increased with increase of δFe. However, 4πMs of the Fe layers in Fe/Mn multilayers did not changed with δMn except for the films with δFe as extremely small as 20 Å. And 4πMs took the value of nearly zero at δFe of 10 Å. In the range of δMn of 20–50 Å, the Fe lattice distortion was most remarkable and the coercivity Hc increased highly due to the large in-plane uniaxial anisotropy. Hc took its maximum value of about 70 Oe at δFe and δMn of 50 Å. This result may imply that the distortion of both layers are most remarkable. Consequently, it was confirmed that dFe and the crystallite size in Fe layers were changed and Hc was modified by modulating both δFe and δMn.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
