Effect of oxygen exposure on the magnetic properties of ultrathin Co/Si(1 1 1)-7×7 films

H. W. Chang*, J. S. Tsay, W. Y. Chang, K. T. Huang, Y. D. Yao

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Effect of oxygen exposure on the magnetic properties of ultrathin Co/Si(1 1 1)-7×7 films have been studied. In ultrahigh vacuum environment, Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis shows that no oxygen adsorption occurs on Si(1 1 1)-7×7 surface and Co-Si compound interfaces. As the thickness of Co films increases above 5 monolayers (ML), pure cobalt islands form on the surface and the amount of oxygen on the surface layers increases with increasing the oxygen exposure time. From the results of slight chemical shift and depth profiling measurements, the oxygen is weakly adsorbed on the topmost layer of 15 ML Co/Si(1 1 1) films. The adsorbed oxygen influences the electronic density of states of Co and leads to the changes of the magnetic properties. The appearance of the O/Co interface could modify the stress anisotropy, as a result, the coercivity of ultrathin Co/Si(1 1 1) films are enhanced. As an example for 15 ML Co/Si(1 1 1), the coercivity increases from 140 to 360 Oe with 5000 Langmuir of oxygen exposure.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2398-2401
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials
Volume321
Issue number16
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2009 Aug

Keywords

  • Oxygen exposure
  • Surface magneto-optic Kerr effect
  • Ultrathin Co films

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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