Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 21: Magnetic Thin Films II

MA 21.2: Talk

Wednesday, February 27, 2008, 14:15–14:30, H 1012

Pulsed laser deposition of epitaxial Co₂Mn_1−xFe_xSi films — •Horst Schneider and Gerhard Jakob — Institut für Physik, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

The Heusler compound Co₂MnSi has been predicted to be half-metallic, and recent experiments show a tunneling spin polarization of more than 90% at low temperatures. However, this value decreases rapidly at higher temperatures. It has been shown theoretically that replacing Mn with Fe will shift the Fermi energy of the compound away from the valence band into the center of the half metallic energy gap. This might reduce the temperature dependence of the spin polarization. We report the successful pulsed laser deposition of thin Co₂Mn_1−xFe_xSi films over the whole stoichiometry range 0≤ x≤ 1. The films were grown on MgO (100) with and without Cr buffer layer under UHV conditions. The investigated films grow epitaxially and possess the fully ordered L2₁ Heusler structure. Furthermore, we present results of bulk magnetometry experiments as well as investigations of the electronic transport of these samples. We discuss these results with respect to the electronic structure of the alloys.