Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Mn4N films on MgO(001) and SrTiO3(001) substrates

We grew Mn4N epitaxial thin films capped with Au layers on MgO(001) and SrTiO3(001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy. Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) was confirmed in all the samples at room temperature from the magnetization versus magnetic field curves using superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer. From the ω-2θ x-ray diffraction (XRD) and ϕ-2θ χ XRD patterns, the ratios of perpendicular lattice constant c to in-plane lattice constant a, c/a, were found to be about 0.99 for all the samples. These results imply that PMA is attributed to the in-plane tensile strain in the Mn4N films

Electronic structures and magnetic moments of Co3FeN thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

We evaluated electronic structures and magnetic moments in Co3FeN epitaxial films on SrTiO3(001). The experimentally obtained hard x-ray photoemission spectra of the Co3FeN film have a good agreement with those calculated. Site averaged spin magnetic moments deduced by x-ray magnetic circular dichroism were 1.52 μ B per Co atom and 2.08 μ B per Fe atom at 100 K. They are close to those of Co4N and Fe4N, respectively, implying that the Co and Fe atoms randomly occupy the corner and face-centered sites in the Co3FeN unit cell