Magnetic depth profile of Au/Fe/Ni trilayers

✍ Scribed by Yi Li; C. Polaczyk; F. Klose; Ch. Rehm; H. Maletta; D. Riegel; G.P. Felcher; S. Adenwalla

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 422 KB
• Volume: 221
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0921-4526
• DOI: 10.1016/0921-4526(95)00953-1

✦ Synopsis

Magnetization measurements of a series of Au/Fe/Ni trilayers were carried out by spin-polarized neutron reflectometry and SQUID magnetometry. The bottom layer of Ni had the same thickness for all samples (140 A) while the top layer of Fe varied from sample to saomple (16-90A). The magnetic moment of iron was found to be dependent on the layer's thickness. For Fe layers of 32 A or less, the Fe magnetization was an order of magnitude smaller than that of bulk BCC Fe, indicating that Fe is either in a non-magnetic state or that its ordering is antiferromagnetic. For Fe layers of 60 A or more, the Fe moment was found to be in the plane of the film, constant throughout its entire layer, and with a value (2.0/~B/atom) approaching that of bulk iron. This magnetic transition probably can be attributed to a structural phase transition from the FCC to the BCC structure.