The equiatomic FeRh alloy undergoes a first-order phase transition from an antiferromagnetic (AFM) to a ferromagnetic (FM) state at about 370 K with a small thermal hysteresis of about 10 K around the phase transition. The transition is accompanied by a unit cell volume expansion about 1% in the c lattice parameter. During the transition the new phase nucleates in the matrix of the original phase by reaching the critical temperature followed by a growth in size upon increasing temperature further. Therefore, to understand the transition process with more details, it is desirable to investigate the nucleation and growth of both phases within the first order phase transition.
In the present thesis the main focus is on the growth of FeRh thin films by means of Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) technique and characterization of the magnetic and structural properties. To develop an understanding of the phase transformation in FeRh thin films the ways in which one can tune it were investigated.
The following aspects concerning the FeRh system have been examined here:
1) influence of annealing temperature on the magnetic and structural response,
2) effect of film thickness on the first-order phase transition temperature as well as the saturation magnetization,
3) influence of chemical composition on the magnetic properties and
4) magnetic field-induced phase transition.
To get insight to details of the transition process the magnetization dynamic has been addressed by performing Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) experiment across the phase transition. FMR measurements determined the existence of two areas with different magnetic properties inside the film. A huge temperature difference for the beginning of the phase transition in comparison with the static magnetization measurement was observed for the equiatomic FeRh thin film prepared by MBE.
Tuning of the AFM to FM phase transition in the FeRh thin film by means of low-energy/low fluence Ne+ ion irradiation was studied. Ion irradiation technique offers a quantitative control of the degree of chemical disorder by adjusting the ion fluence applied, while the penetration depth of the disordered phase can be adjusted by the ion-energy. The main results of ion irradiation are the shifting of the phase transition temperature to lower temperature and irradiation with 3×1014 ion/cm2 leads to the disappearance the AFM phase completely
