TEM of electron-beam induced crystallization of an amorphous AuFe.03/Si Spin-Glass Multilayer

Abstract

The use of thin film multilayers for the study of physical phenomena (e.g. spin-glass dc magnetic susceptibility, giant magnetoresistance, and x-ray reflectivity) has grown recently as the technology for their preparation has improved. The multilayers in this study were produced for an investigation of finite-size effects in a AuFe.03 spin-glass.We prepared the samples by dc sputtering of a AuFe.03, alloy and a Si target in an UHV system. The specimen in this investigation had 67 bilayers of 3 nm spin-glass layers alternating with 7 nm amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers on a (001) single-crystal silicon substrate for a total film thickness of 670 nm. Ultrathin cross-sections were prepared by cleaning the thin-film surface in Freon TF and gluing this surface to a clean ground-glass slide with epoxy. We removed the thin-film from its silicon substrate by peeling the substrate from the film which remained on the glass slide.