1. Morphology of the asymmetric iron–silicon interfaces.
- Author
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Badía-Romano, L., Rubín, J., Bartolomé, F., Magén, C., Bartolomé, J., Varnakov, S.N., Ovchinnikov, S.G., Rubio-Zuazo, J., and Castro, G.R.
- Subjects
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IRON-silicon alloys , *CRYSTAL morphology , *ASYMMETRY (Chemistry) , *MULTILAYERS , *THERMAL analysis , *TRANSMISSION electron microscopy - Abstract
A systematic study of the iron–silicon interfaces formed upon preparation of (Fe/Si) multilayers has been performed by combination of modern and powerful techniques. Samples were prepared by thermal evaporation under ultrahigh vacuum onto a Si(1 0 0) substrate. The morphology of these films and their interfaces was studied by a combination of scanning transmission electron microscopy, X-ray reflectivity, angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Si-on-Fe interface thickness and roughness were determined to be 1.4(1) nm and 0.6(1) nm, respectively. Moreover, determination of the stable phases formed at both Fe-on-Si and Si-on-Fe interfaces was performed using conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy on multilayers with well separated Si-on-Fe and Fe-on-Si interfaces. It is shown that while a fraction of Fe remains as α -Fe, the rest has reacted with Si, forming the paramagnetic c-Fe 1− x Si phase and a ferromagnetic Fe rich silicide (DO 3 type phase). We conclude that the paramagnetic c-Fe 1− x Si silicide sublayer is identical in both Si-on-Fe and Fe-on-Si interfaces, whereas an asymmetry is revealed in the composition of the ferromagnetic silicide sublayer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2015
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