Room-temperature structural ordering of a Heusler compound Fe3Si

Shinya Yamada, James Sagar, Leonardo Lari, G Takemoto, Hiroyoshi Itoh, Atsufumi Hirohata, Ko Mibu, M Miyao, Kohei Hamaya

Research output: Contribution to conferencePaperpeer-review

Abstract

D03-ordered Fe3Si, which is one of the ferromagnetic Heusler compounds, has so far been formed by high-temperature heat treatments. Here, we demonstrate room-temperature D03 ordering of Fe3Si films grown on Ge(111) by using a molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique. In our MBE conditions, higher growth temperatures are not effective to obtain highly ordered D03 structures because of the interfacial reactions between Fe3Si and Ge. Even for the room-temperature growth, the degree of the D03 ordering can be improved with increasing film thickness. Considering the experimental data and the calculated results based on molecular dynamics, we can understand that the main structural disorder is derived from a specific Fe site in the Fe3Si film near the interface. We also discuss the room-temperature D03 ordering in terms of the local stoichiometry of the supplied atoms in MBE conditions.
Original languageEnglish
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Nov 2012

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