Reordering between tetrahedral and octahedral sites in ultrathin magnetite films grown on MgO(001)

Abstract

Magnetite ultrathin films were grown using different deposition rates and substrate temperatures. The structure of these films was studied using (grazing incidence) x-ray diffraction, while their surface structure was characterized by low energy electron diffraction. In addition to that, we performed x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and magneto optic Kerr effect measurements to probe the stoichiometry of the films as well as their magnetic properties. The diffraction peaks of the inverse spinel structure, which originate exclusively from Fe ions on tetrahedral sites are strongly affected by the preparation conditions, while the octahedral sites remain almost unchanged. With both decreasing deposition rate as well as decreasing substrate temperature, the integrated intensity of the diffraction peaks originating exclusively from Fe on tetrahedral sites is decreasing. We propose that the ions usually occupying tetrahedral sites in magnetite are relocated to octahedral vacancies. Ferrimagnetic behaviour is only observed for well ordered magnetite films.