Structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial Heusler alloy Fe 2Cr0.5Co0.5Si

Abstract

This paper reports the study of structural and magnetic properties of Heusler alloy Fe2Cr0.5Co0.5Si (FCCS) thin film and its tunnel magnetoresistance (TMR) effect. The smooth quaternary Heusler alloy FCCS film with surface roughness of rms value of 0.25 nm measured by atomic force microscopy and partial L21 phase was obtained by magnetron sputtering at room temperature followed by in-situ annealing at 400 C. The saturation magnetization and coercivity of FCCS are 410 emu/cm3 and 20 Oe, respectively. The magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) using FCCS as free layer were studied in detail as a function of post-annealing temperature. A TMR ratio of 15.6% has been achieved with 300 C post-annealing. This is about twice the highest TMR ratio obtained in MTJs using Fe2CrSi. The enhancement of TMR ratio can be attributed to the successful tuning of the Fermi level of Fe2CrSi close to the center of the minority band gap by Co-doping. © 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.