Tuning Surface Spin Polarization of CoFeB by Boron Diffusion Detected by Spin Resolved Photoemission

Research of spin polarization of magnetic CoFeB thin films is of practical importance in spintronic applications.Here,using a direct characterization technique of spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy,we obtain the surface spin polarization of amorphous Co_(40)Fe_(40)B_(20)thin films with different annealing temperatures from 100℃to 500℃prepared by magnetron sputtering.After high annealing temperature,a quasi-semiconductor state is gradually formed at the CoFeB surface due to the boron diffusion.While the global magnetization remains almost constant,the secondary electrons’spin polarization,average valence band spin polarization and the spin polarization at Fermi level from spin-resolved photoemission spectroscopy show a general trend of decreasing with the increasing annealing temperature above 100℃.These distinct surface properties are attributed to the enhanced Fe-B bonding due to the boron segregation upon surface after annealing as confirmed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy.Our findings provide insight into the surface spin-resolved electronic structure of the CoFeB thin films,which should be important for development of high-performance magnetic random-access memories.

Site Preference of Se and Te in Bi2Se3-xTex Thin Films

The ternary topological insulators Bi2Se3-xTex have attracted a great deal of attention due to their exotic physical and chemical properties.While most of the studies focus on the properties of these ternary TIs,limited research was performed to investigate the dynamic atomic stack of its crystal structure.We prepared highquality Bi2Se3-xTex thin films on Ga As(111)B substrates using molecular beam epitaxy,characterized with Raman spectroscopy,x-ray diffraction and photoelectron spectroscopy.It is found that when Se is replaced by Te,the preferred substituting sites are the middle layer at 0<x<1,and this is also valid for Se substituting Te at 2<x<3.In the middle region,the substituting atoms prefer to go to the first and the fifth layer.