Initial stages of growth of iron on silicon for spin injection through Schottky barrier
Journal article, 2011

The characterization of ferromagnet-semiconductor interfaces with monolayer (ML) depth resolution is an important issue in the development of spin injection devices. In this article, highly resolved depth distributions of Fe have been measured during the initial stages of growth of Fe on Si (100) at room temperature by in situ high-resolution Rutherford backscattering spectrometry. Extensive in-diffusion of Fe has been observed even for the coverage of 0.0325 ML of Fe. At this coverage the Si crystal structure is apparently still conserved. Every second Si layer is depleted of Fe, thus giving rise to compositional oscillations of Fe. At higher coverages strong interdiffusion occurs resulting in the formation of silicides at the interface. Even at 9.2 ML of Fe coverage, no pure Fe layers were observed.

spin

scattering

surface

semiconductor spintronics

si(001)

spintronics

Si

interfaces

si(100)

injection

Fe

high-resolution Rutherford backscattering

resolution rutherford-backscattering

Author

Saroj Prasad Dash

Chalmers, Microtechnology and Nanoscience (MC2), Quantum Device Physics

H. D. Carstanjen

Max Planck Society

Physica Status Solidi (B): Basic Research

0370-1972 (ISSN) 1521-3951 (eISSN)

Vol. 248 10 2300-2304

Subject Categories

Physical Sciences

DOI

10.1002/pssb.201147102

More information

Latest update

2/21/2018