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@INPROCEEDINGS{Ptter:844524,
author = {Pütter, Sabine and Syed Mohd, Amir and Mattauch, Stefan
and Koutsioumpas, Alexandros and Brückel, Thomas},
title = {{P}olarized neutron investigation of ultrathin {C}o films
on polycrystalline {P}t under {UHV}},
reportid = {FZJ-2018-01934},
year = {2017},
abstract = {Ultrathin magnetic films have been studied for a long time
[1,2] but they are still in focus since in spintronics the
electron spin has emerged as an additional degree of
freedom, besides the electron charge [3]. Crucial for
spintronics is the quality of the interface between the
substrate and the film or within heterostructures, e.g.[4].
Apparently, ultra high vacuum (UHV) conditions are required
for the study of their properties, as e.g. the magnetic
interface anisotropy changes on thin film contamination with
adsorbats [5] or on covering the thin film with protecting
cap layers [6,7]. For this reason, in-situ experiments are
preferable. A straightforward way to determine the magnetic
moment of thin films and to study them with depth resolution
is polarized neutron reflectometry (PNR) [8]. However, PNR
measurements of thin magnetic films under UHV conditions
have not yet been performed, to our knowledge. The reason is
that a UHV growth chamber occupies a lot of space which is
generally limited at beam lines.In order to solve that
problem, we have designed a small UHV chamber which is on
one hand capable of transferring a sample from thin film
fabrication at an MBE system to a neutron reflectometer and
on the other hand can be used as measurement chamber for PNR
[9]. It consists of a DN CF-40 cube with two opposing
sapphire windows for the neutron beam, a combined non
evaporable getter and ion pump for keeping the vacuum, a
wobble stick, which is needed for in-situ sample transfer
and also serves as sample holder for samples of up to 1
$cm^2$ and a valve for mounting the chamber to the MBE
system and exchanging samples. The pressure in the transfer
chamber is kept in the 10e−10 mbar range during transport
and PNR measurement. The length of chamber is about 30 cm
plus 50 cm translation length of the wobble stick and weighs
about 10 kg.The magnetic neutron reflectometer with high
incident angle (MARIA) at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum
(MLZ) in Garching, Germany is a dedicated instrument for
polarized neutron reflectometry of thin films [10]. In an
adjacent building thin films can be fabricated with an MBE
setup.Our UHV transport chamber was specially designed to
fit into the magnet of MARIA and to be attached to the MBE
setup. We present PNR measurements on polycrystalline Co
thin films of different thickness which were grown in the
MBE setup on 20 nm Pt/MgO(100) and measured afterwards at
MARIA in a magnetic field of 300 mT at room temperature,
under UHV conditions and at ambient air. Our experiments
evidence that the UHV chamber works properly and proof that
measurements in UHV are crucial.First of all, PNR
investigations of a 30 Å Co film were performed in UHV.
Afterwards the sample was taken out of the UHV chamber and
was exposed to ambient air for 6 hours before measuring it
with PNR again. Data treatment was performed with the
program GenX [11].The measurements in UHV do not give any
hint on oxidation of the Co film. In contrast, the
corresponding PNR curves of the ex-situ measured Co film
differ clearly from the ones measured in UHV. As a result,
the 30 Å Co film has transformed to 9 Å $CoO_x$ film with
26 Å Co beneath in the six hours. To summarize, we evidence
that the UHV chamber works properly which means samples
which are delicate to handle in ambient conditions can be
measured using our small UHV chamber. Second, we will
discuss the issue of reduced magnetic moments at interfaces,
which is also called „magnetic dead layers“. It is well
known, that the magnetic moment of thin films is reduced at
the interface between thin film and the substrate [12,13].
With our measurements we proof that the magnetic moment of
Co films is reduced at each interface, also at a Pt cap
layer. In literature, however, cap layers are only discussed
in terms of the change of the perpendicular magnetic
anisotropy [6,7], which is obviously only part of the
story.As third point, we study by PNR how the magnetic
moment changes for thin films with thickness. We performed
PNR measurements under UHV conditions for Co film of
thickness 1.5 nm, 2 nm, 3 nm and 6 nm. We observe that there
is a magnetic gradient in the Co film up to 3 nm.
Nevertheless, the average magnetic moment in Co film is
increasing with its thickness and tends to be bulk value at
6 nm. Access to PNR measurements at MARIA, sample
preparation with the MBE system and the usage of the
transport chamber for measuring is provided to all people
interested via the MLZ user office system (www.mlz-garching)
and the nanoscience foundry and fine analysis project (NFFA,
www.nffa.eu) where you can also apply for funding.This
project has received funding from the EU’s H2020 research
and innovation programme under grant agreement n.},
month = {Apr},
date = {2017-04-24},
organization = {Intermag Europe 2017, Dublin
(Ireland), 24 Apr 2017 - 28 Apr 2017},
subtyp = {After Call},
cin = {JCNS (München) ; Jülich Centre for Neutron Science JCNS
(München) ; JCNS-FRM-II / JCNS-2},
cid = {I:(DE-Juel1)JCNS-FRM-II-20110218 /
I:(DE-Juel1)JCNS-2-20110106},
pnm = {524 - Controlling Collective States (POF3-524) / 6212 -
Quantum Condensed Matter: Magnetism, Superconductivity
(POF3-621) / 6G15 - FRM II / MLZ (POF3-6G15) / 6G4 - Jülich
Centre for Neutron Research (JCNS) (POF3-623)},
pid = {G:(DE-HGF)POF3-524 / G:(DE-HGF)POF3-6212 /
G:(DE-HGF)POF3-6G15 / G:(DE-HGF)POF3-6G4},
experiment = {EXP:(DE-MLZ)MBE-MLZ-20151210 / EXP:(DE-MLZ)MARIA-20140101},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)24},
url = {https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/844524},
}