Structural characterization by electronic transport properties on Fe3Si films

Abstract

We have investigated the electronic transport properties of resistivity, magnetoresistance and the Hall effect on epitaxial and polycrystalline Fe3Si thin films. The electrical transport measurements reveal the microstructure which has not been clarified from x-ray diffraction and/or scanning electron microscopy. We show that (1 0 0)-oriented epitaxial film 36 nm thick on MgO(1 1 1) exhibits ferromagnetic-tunnelling conduction, (1 1 0)-oriented epitaxial film 36 nm thick on yttria stabilized zirconia [YSZ(1 1 1)] is in a percolated region, and polycrystalline film 36 nm thick on Al2O3(1 1 0) and (1 0 0)-oriented epitaxial film 150 nm thick on MgAl2O4(1 0 0) have metallic conduction. These results imply that the electrical transport measurements are a powerful tool for evaluating the microstructure of the samples. The coefficients of the skew and the side-jump scatterings in the extraordinary Hall effect, and the quadratic temperature coefficient of resistivity observed on (1 0 0)-oriented epitaxial film 150 nm thick on MgAl2O4 show that Fe3Si is a ferromagnetic metal where the effective electron mass is slightly enhanced compared with Fe, Co and Ni due to the electron–electron correlation.