Molecular Beam Epitaxy Growth of [CrGe/MnGe/FeGe] Superlattices: Toward Artificial B20 Skyrmion Materials with Tunable Interactions
arXiv:1702.05191 · doi:10.1016/j.jcrysgro.2017.03.012
Abstract
Skyrmions are localized magnetic spin textures whose stability has been shown theoretically to depend on material parameters including bulk Dresselhaus spin orbit coupling (SOC), interfacial Rashba SOC, and magnetic anisotropy. Here, we establish the growth of a new class of artificial skyrmion materials, namely B20 superlattices, where these parameters could be systematically tuned. Specifically, we report the successful growth of B20 superlattices comprised of single crystal thin films of FeGe, MnGe, and CrGe on Si(111) substrates. Thin films and superlattices are grown by molecular beam epitaxy and are characterized through a combination of reflection high energy electron diffraction, x-ray diffraction, and cross-sectional scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (XEDS) distinguishes layers by elemental mapping and indicates good interface quality with relatively low levels of intermixing in the [CrGe/MnGe/FeGe] superlattice. This demonstration of epitaxial, single-crystalline B20 superlattices is a significant advance toward tunable skyrmion systems for fundamental scientific studies and applications in magnetic storage and logic.
arXiv comment16 pages, 7 figures
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Cited by in corpus (8)
- Chiral Bobbers and Skyrmions in Epitaxial FeGe/Si(111) Films
- Atomic scale visualization of topological spin textures in the chiral magnet MnGe
- Engineering Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction in B20 thin film chiral magnets
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