Abstract
The chemical and electronic-structure profiles of magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) La0.7Sr0.3MnO3/SrTiO3 (LSMO/STO) superlattices have been quantitatively determined via soft and hard x-ray standing-wave excited photoemission, x-ray absorption and x-ray reflectivity, in conjunction with x-ray optical and core-hole multiplet theoretical modeling. Epitaxial superlattice samples consisting of 48 and 120 bilayers of LSMO and STO, each nominally four unit cells thick, and still exhibiting LSMO ferromagnetism, were studied. By varying the incidence angle around the superlattice Bragg condition, the standing wave was moved vertically through the interfaces. By comparing experiment to x-ray optical calculations, the detailed chemical profile of the superlattice and its interfaces was quantitatively derived with angstrom precision. The multilayers were found to have a small similar to 6% change in periodicity from top to bottom. Interface compositional mixing or roughness over similar to 6 angstrom was also found, as well as a significant change in the soft x-ray optical coefficients of LSMO near the interface. The soft x-ray photoemission data exhibit a shift in the position of the Mn 3p peak near the interface, which is not observed for Mn 3s. Combined with core-hole multiplet theory incorporating Jahn-Teller distortion, these results indicate a change in the Mn bonding state near the LSMO/STO interface. Our results thus further clarify the reduced (MTJ) performance of LSMO/STO compared to ideal theoretical expectations.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 205116 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Physical review. B, Condensed matter and materials physics |
| Volume | 82 |
| Issue number | 20 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 16 Nov 2010 |
Funding
The authors acknowledge support from the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. The authors are also grateful to HiSOR, Hiroshima University and JAEA/SPring-8 for the development of hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy at BL15XU of SPring-8. The experiments at BL15XU were performed under the approval of NIMS Beamline Station (Proposal No. 2009A4906). This work was partially supported by the Nanotechnology Network Project, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan.
Keywords
- ROOM-TEMPERATURE
- MAGNETORESISTANCE
- OXIDES