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Quaternary Heusler alloys CoFeMnSi (CFMS) pertain to spin gapless semiconductors. CFMS have close to 100 % spin polarization of charge carriers and are promising materials for creating modern spintronic devices. Cobalt and its alloys are widely used to form ferromagnetic layers in such devices. The combined use of these materials for the manufacture of magnetic tunnel junctions can significantly increase the effect of tunnel magnetic resistance, which necessitates the creation of a technology for the manufacture of multilayer structures based on them. In this work, the pulsed laser deposition method used to grow a heterostructure based on a CFMS film and a Co layer on an MgO(100) substrate is considered. Electron microscopic studies of cross-sectional samples showed that the obtained CFMS and Co layers have a perfect crystalline structure, while the Co layer was found to contain Fe atoms. It has been established that the thickness of the CFMS film was approximately 10 nm, and the Co/Fe layer was 2 nm, and an atomically smooth boundary was formed between them. It indicates the implementation of epi-taxial growth of the upper layer of the heterostructure. In the region of the interface between the MgO substrate and the CFMS film, the length of which in the direction perpendicular to the sub-strate surface is about 1 nm, depletion of CFMS atoms was revealed. The presence of iron in the upper layer and the formation of an atom-depleted region at the boundary between the CFMS film and the MgO substrate condition further optimization of the pulsed laser deposition method for forming heterostructures.

Key words: magnetic tunnel junction, heterostructures, gapless semiconductor, spintronics, thin films, laser deposition, epitaxy, single crystal, spin gapless semiconductor, CoFeMnSi alloy
Published in: FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCHES
Bibliography link: Veriuzhskii I. V., Prihodko A. S., Uskov F. A., Grigorashvili Yu. E., Borgardt N. I. Pulsed laser deposition and electron microscopy study of heterostructure based on Heusler CoFeMnSi alloy and cobalt. Izv. vuzov. Elektronika = Proc. Univ. Electronics. 2025;30(5):543–551. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.24151/1561-5405-2025-30-5-543-551
Financial source: the work has been supported by the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia within the framework of the state assignment (Agreement FSMR-2024-0004) using the equipment of the Collective Use Center “Diagnostics and Modification of Microstructures and Nanoobjects”.

Ivan V. Veriuzhskii
National Research University of Electronic Technology (Russia, 124498, Moscow, Zelenograd, Shokin sq., 1)

Yury E. Grigorashvili
National Research University of Electronic Technology (Russia, 124498, Moscow, Zelenograd, Shokin sq., 1)

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Information about the publication

UDK: 620.3:548.5
Publication type: Scientific article
Source lang: Russian
DOI: 10.24151/1561-5405-2025-30-5-543-551
RISC id: XTOSWE

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