1. Hetero-epitaxial EuO interfaces studied by analytic electron microscopy.
- Author
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Mundy, Julia A., Hodash, Daniel, Melville, Alexander, Held, Rainer, Mairoser, Thomas, Muller, David A., Kourkoutis, Lena F., Schmehl, Andreas, and Schlom, Darrell G.
- Subjects
EPITAXY ,ELECTRON microscopy ,POLARIZATION (Electricity) ,EUROPIUM compounds ,SPINTRONICS ,SCANNING transmission electron microscopy - Abstract
With nearly complete spin polarization, the ferromagnetic semiconductor europium monoxide could enable next-generation spintronic devices by providing efficient ohmic spin injection into silicon. Spin injection is greatly affected by the quality of the interface between the injector and silicon. Here, we use atomic-resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy in conjunction with electron energy loss spectroscopy to directly image and chemically characterize a series of EuO|Si and EuO|YAlO
3 interfaces fabricated using different growth conditions. We identify the presence of europium silicides and regions of disorder at the EuO|Si interfaces, imperfections that could significantly reduce spin injection efficiencies via spin-flip scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]- Published
- 2014
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