Origin of magnetically dead layers in spinel ferrites $M\text{Fe}_2\text{O}_4$ grown on $\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3$: Effects of post-deposition annealing studied by XMCD

TL;DR

This study investigates the origin of magnetically dead layers in spinel ferrite thin films grown on Al2O3, revealing that post-annealing can partially recover ferrimagnetic order and that vacancies at specific lattice sites contribute to magnetic degradation.

Contribution

The paper demonstrates that vacancies at T_d sites cause dead layers and shows that annealing can restore ferrimagnetic order in spinel ferrite films.

Findings

Dead layers form near the interface with Al2O3 buffer.

Annealing partially recovers ferrimagnetic order.

Vacancies at T_d sites are linked to magnetic degradation.

Abstract

We study the electronic and magnetic states of as-grown and annealed $M\text{Fe}_2\text{O}_4$(111)/$\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3$(111) ($M=\text{Co, Ni}$) thin films with various thicknesses grown on Si(111) substrates with the $\gamma$-$\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3$(111) buffer layers by using x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD), to investigate magnetically dead layers in these films. Although the magnetically dead layers in the as-grown samples are formed near the interface with the $\text{Al}_2\text{O}_3$ buffer layer, we reveal that ferrimagnetic order is partially recovered by post-deposition annealing at 973 K for 48 hours in air. By analyzing the line shapes of the XAS and XMCD spectra, we conclude that, in the dead layers, there are a significant number of vacancies at the $T_d$ sites of the spinel structure, which may be the microscopic origin of the degraded ferrimagnetic order in the $M\text{Fe}_2\text{O}_4$(111) thin films.