Roldan Cuenya, B., Croy, J. R., Ono, L. K., Naitabdi, A., Heinrich, H., Keune, W., Zhao, J., Sturhahn, W., Alp, E. E., Hu, M.
Phonon density of states of self-assembled isolated Fe-rich Fe-Pt alloy nanoclusters
Physical Review B 80, (12),pp 125412/1-7 (2009)
The Fe-projected phonon density of states (PDOS) of monolayer-thick films of self-assembled, size-selected, isolated 57Fe1−xPtx alloy nanoclusters (NCs) (height: ∼ 2 nm, diameter: ∼ 8 nm) supported on flat SiO2/Si(111) substrates has been measured by nuclear resonant inelastic x-ray scattering. The samples were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Surface segregation of Pt and PtSi formation at the NC surface due to the sample-preparation process is inferred from the XPS data. As compared to the bulk, pronounced modifications of the PDOS beyond the bulk cut-off energy are observed in bcc 57Fe0.8Pt0.2 (core)/PtSi(shell) NCs. By contrast, the PDOS of fcc 57Fe0.75Pt0.25 (core)/PtSi(shell) NCs retains features of bulk ordered Fe3Pt Invar alloys (presumably due to a thicker PtSi shell), in particular, the transverse-acoustic [110] TA1 mode near 9 meV. Apparently, this mode is not affected by size effects. The existence of the [110] TA1 phonon mode is a prerequisite for the persistence of Invar-related effects in Fe3Pt NCs. Important thermodynamic properties of the NCs are derived, such as the vibrational entropy per atom.