Formation of a magnetite/hematite epitaxial bilayer generated with low energy ion bombardment

©American Institute of Physics. This work was supported by projects MAT2012-38045- C04-03, FIS2014-61839-EXP, MAT2014- 52477-C5-2-P and MAT2013-48009-C4-1-P from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and a 2016 BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators. S.R.-G. thanks a FPI MINECO fellowship. J. Romero from the C.A.I de Tecnicas Fısicas-UCM is acknowledged for the SQUID measurements.
We have used a low-energy ion bombardment to fabricate an epitaxial single-crystalline magnetite/hematite bilayer grown on Au(111). This non-conventional fabrication method involves the transformation of the upper layers of a single-crystalline hematite thin film to single-crystalline magnetite, a process driven by the preferential sputtering of oxygen atoms and favoured by the good structural matching of both phases. We show the reversibility of the transformation between hematite and magnetite, always keeping the epitaxial and single- crystalline character of the films. The magnetic characterization of the bilayer grown using this method shows that the magnetic response is mainly determined by the magnetite thin film, exhibiting a high coercivity. Published by AIP Publishing.
Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO)
BBVA Foundation Grant for Researchers and Cultural Creators
FPI MINECO fellowship
Depto. de Física de Materiales
Fac. de Ciencias Físicas
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