Abstract
ABSTRACTThe magnetic interlayer exchange coupling in Fe/Si-based thin film structures employing sputtered multilayers with variations of Si-alloyed Fe for the magnetic layers and Fe-alloyed Si spacers, as well as wedge-shaped MBE-grown Fe/Si/Fe sandwich samples has been systematically studied. From structural and magnetic analysis it is concluded that ultrathin Si and FexSi100-x (x < 50) spacer layers transform into a crystalline iron suicide with a composition close to Fe50Si50. The exchange coupling mediated by this metallic suicide is antiferromagnetic and depends on the spacer thickness in an exponential, i.e. non-oscillatory, manner with a universial characteristic decay length of 3–4 Å at room temperature. This observation can be qualitatively explained within the framework of a recent coupling theory on the premise that the FeSi interlayer has the metastable CsCl(B2)-structure.
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