Molecular-beam epitaxy of [formula omitted] Heusler alloy thin films epitaxially grown on Si(0 0 1)

Abstract

We report on the investigation of structural and magnetic properties of the ternary Heusler alloy Co 2 MnSi grown on Si(0 0 1) by molecular-beam epitaxy. Low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), inelastic medium-energy electron diffraction (IMEED) and X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) measurements clearly show the growth of crystalline Co 2 MnSi . The best crystallographic and magnetic quality of the Co 2 MnSi films have been achieved after codeposition of the three Co, Mn and Si elements on the Si(0 0 1) substrate held at 587 K. Quantitative determinations of magnetic anisotropies were performed using transverse bias initial inverse susceptibility and torque measurements (TBIIST). Co 2 MnSi reveals to have an in-plane fourfold magnetocrystalline anisotropy with easy axis along 〈 0 1 0 〉 directions for evaporation fluxes perpendicular to the substrate surface. On the other hand, grazing-incidence fluxes invariably generate a dominant uniaxial in-plane magnetic anisotropy contribution with easy axis perpendicular to the incidence plane.