Systematic investigation of structural and magnetic properties in molecular beam epitaxial growth of metastable zinc-blende CrTe toward half-metallicity

We report a systematic investigation on the structural and magnetic properties of molecular-beam epitaxial growth of CrTe thin films with different layer thicknesses and Cr ∕ Te flux ratios. A phase diagram of the growth parameters is established based on the detailed analyses of the reflection high...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied physics 2008-02, Vol.103 (4), p.043908-043908-5
Main Authors: Sreenivasan, M. G., Bi, J. F., Teo, K. L., Liew, T.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ANISOTROPY
ATOMIC FORCE MICROSCOPY
CHROMIUM COMPOUNDS
CRYSTAL GROWTH
ELECTRON DIFFRACTION
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETIZATION
MATERIALS SCIENCE
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
PHASE DIAGRAMS
TELLURIUM COMPOUNDS
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0065-0273 K
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
ZINC SULFIDES
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We report a systematic investigation on the structural and magnetic properties of molecular-beam epitaxial growth of CrTe thin films with different layer thicknesses and Cr ∕ Te flux ratios. A phase diagram of the growth parameters is established based on the detailed analyses of the reflection high-energy electron diffraction patterns, atomic force microscopy, and magnetization. Our high-resolution transmission electron microscopy results show that under appropriate growth conditions, a metastable zinc-blende (ZB) phase of CrTe film can be achieved with a nominal thickness of 5 nm . The magnetic properties of ZB CrTe exhibit a strong in-plane anisotropy with an easy axis along the [001] direction and hard axes along the [011] and [ 0 1 ¯ 1 ] directions. Correspondingly, the uniaxial ( K U ) and cubic ( K C ) anisotropy constants are obtained through the fitting of the [011] hard-axis direction. The temperature dependence of the remanent magnetization indicates the T C ∼ 100 K of ZB CrTe is attained.
ISSN:0021-8979
1089-7550
DOI:10.1063/1.2885108