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Stromberg, F., Bedanta, S., Antoniak, C., Keune, W., Wende, H.

FeSi diffusion barriers in Fe/FeSi/Si/FeSi/Fe multilayers and oscillatory antiferromagnetic exchange coupling
Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 20, (42),pp 425205/1-8 (2008)
We study the diffusion of 57Fe probe atoms in Fe/FeSi/Si/FeSi/Fe multilayers on Si(111) prepared by molecular beam epitaxy by means of 57Fe conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS). We demonstrate that the application of FeSi boundary layers successfully inhibits the diffusion of 57Fe into the Si layer. The critical thickness for the complete prevention of Fe diffusion takes place at a nominal FeSi thickness of tFeSi = 10-12 Å, which was confirmed by the evolution of the isomer shift δ of the crucial CEM subspectrum. The formation of the slightly defective c-FeSi phase for thicker FeSi boundary layers ( ∼ 20 Å) was confirmed by CEMS and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED). Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) shows that, for tFeSi = 0-14 Å, the Fe layers in all samples are antiferromagnetically coupled and we observe an oscillatory antiferromagnetic coupling strength with FMR and superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry for varying FeSi thickness with a period of  ∼ 6 Å.