Deposition and Spin Polarization Study of Fe4N Thin Films with (111) Orientation
Abstract
We have successfully deposited Fe4N thin films with (111) out-of-plane orientation on thermally oxidized Si substrates using a facing-target-sputtering system. A Ta/Ru composite buffer layer was adopted to improve the (111) orientation of the Fe4N thin films. The (N)2 partial pressure and substrate temperature during sputtering were optimized to promote the formation of the Fe4N phase. Furthermore, we measured the transport spin polarization of (111) oriented Fe4N by the point contact Andreev reflection (PCAR) technique. The spin polarization ratio was determined to be 0.50 using a modified BTK model. The film thickness dependence of the spin polarization was also investigated. The spin polarization of Fe4N measured by PCAR does not show degradation as the sample thickness was reduced to 10nm.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1117762
Entities
People
- Hongshi Li
- Jian-Ping Wang
- Kevin L. Jensen
- M. S. Osofsky
- Xuan Li
Organizations
- United States Naval Research Laboratory