Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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MA: Fachverband Magnetismus

MA 35: Poster 2

MA 35.70: Poster

Thursday, September 8, 2022, 16:00–18:00, P4

Characterization of thin MgO layers grown on Fe(100) and Fe(100)-p(1x1)O — •Mira Arndt, David Janas, Giovanni Zamborlini, and Mirko Cinchetti — Department of Physics, TU Dortmund University, Otto-Hahn-Straße 4, 44227 Dortmund, Germany

In the field of spintronics, thin magnesium oxide (MgO) interlayers play a major role as dielectric tunneling barriers in magnetic tunnel junctions. As the most prominent example, MgO enhances the tunneling magnetoresistance of Fe/MgO/Fe heterolayers. Crucially, exposing Fe to oxygen results in rapid oxidation of the surface, which in turn highly influences the MgO growth process and makes it less reproducible, eventually, changing the device performances. This problem can be overcome by controlled passivation of the Fe surface with oxygen prior to MgO deposition. In this contribution we present the characterization of the growth of MgO layers with variable thickness on the clean Fe(100) and the passivated Fe(100)-p(1x1)O surface. The studies have been performed by employing various surface sensitive techniques, such as Auger electron spectroscopy, low energy electron diffraction (LEED), reflective medium energy electron diffraction (MEED), and photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). Our data show that, despite evident differences in the growth behavior, the electronic properties of the two interfaces are very similar.