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Morphology of epitaxial metallic layers on MgO substrates: influence of submonolayer carbon contamination

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Surface Science

Volume 495, Issues 1-2
10 December 2001
Pages 68-76

DOI: 10.1016/S0039-6028(01)01504-7
PII: S0039-6028(01)01504-7
Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

M. Rickart, B. F. P. Roos, T. Mewes, J. Jorzick, S. O. Demokritov ^, and B. Hillebrands

Fachbereich Physik and Forschungs- und Entwicklungsschwerpunkt Materialwissenschaften, Universität Kaiserslautern, Erwin-Schrödinger-Strasse 56, D-67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany

Received 30 May 2001; accepted 6 August 2001. Available online 25 September 2001.

By investigating the epitaxial growth of Ag(0 0 1) and Au(0 0 1) films and Fe/Ag(0 0 1) and Fe/Au(0 0 1) layered systems on MgO(0 0 1) the influence of carbon contamination of the MgO surface on the morphology of the obtained films is studied. A new technique for the preparation of carbon-free MgO(0 0 1) surfaces using ion beam oxidation is reported. This technique takes advantage of the high chemical activity of dissociated low energy oxygen atoms, which removes the carbon contamination from the MgO surface as confirmed by Auger electron spectroscopy. It is shown that metallic layers grown on carbon-free MgO substrates demonstrate reduced roughness, improved crystallographic quality and enhanced surface magnetic anisotropy compared to those grown on carbon contaminated substrates.

Author Keywords: Molecular beam epitaxy; Ion bombardment; Surface structure, morphology, roughness, and topography; Carbon; Magnesium oxides; Metal_¯metal magnetic thin film structures

1. Introduction
2. Experimental procedure and preparation of the substrate surface
3. Results and discussion 3.1. Properties of the MgO substrates 3.2. Growth of the metallic non-magnetic layers 3.3. Fe films grown on Ag and Au layers
4. Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References

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Fig. 1. Auger electron spectra of MgO surfaces. Curve (a) shows a pre-heated substrate, (b) annealed at 600 °C for 3 h and (c) a substrate treated with an oxygen ion beam. No carbon contamination was detected in spectrum (c). All spectra are normalized to the Mg peak for comparison and vertically shifted for clarity.

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Fig. 2. Mean electron scattering coherence length obtained by evaluation of the LEED spot width of the MgO substrates, the Ag and Au layers and the Fe films for the different preparation methods of independent substrates. The vertical broken line separates regions with different substrate pre-treatment: annealed and pre-heated substrates.

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Fig. 3. AFM images of MgO substrates, (a) pre-heated substrate (type A), RMS=0.7 nm, (b) oxygen ion beam treated substrate (type C), RMS <0.1 nm. The insets show the corresponding LEED pattern at an energy of 107 eV.

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Fig. 4. RHEED images of a 50 nm Ag buffer layer grown onto the MgO substrate (a) without and (b) with a 1 nm Fe intermediate layer. The incident beam with the energy of E=15 keV was directed along the [1 1 0]-direction of the MgO substrate.

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Fig. 5. STM image of an Ag layer demonstrating monatomic steps. The inset shows for Ag a characteristic (1×1) LEED pattern.

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Fig. 6. STM images of an Au layer showing the (5×20) reconstruction and monatomic steps. The inset shows a LEED pattern at 75 eV of the (5×20) reconstruction.

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Fig. 7. (a) LEED pattern (E=180 eV) of a 3 nm thick Fe film, epitaxially grown on Au, (b) STM image of the same film showing islands, (c) large scale STM image of the same Fe film, (d) large scale STM image of a 3 nm thick Fe film, epitaxially grown on Ag. Note that in (c) the direction [1 0 0] on Fe corresponds to [1 1 0] on Au.

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Fig. 8. Evaluation of the uniaxial out-of-plane surface anisotropy constants in dependence of the carbon concentration. Spin wave frequencies were measured by means of Brillouin light scattering spectroscopy and the anisotropy constants calculated.

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Corresponding author. Tel.: +49-631-205-4075; fax: +49-631-205-4095; email: demokrit@physik.uni-kl.de

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Surface Science
Volume 495, Issues 1-2
10 December 2001
Pages 68-76

8 of 18

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