Diffusion study of a-Fe2O3/a-Cr2O3(0001) Superlattice
EMSL Project ID
3394
Abstract
The heterojunction between -Fe2O3/-Cr2O3(0001) grown by oxygen-plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy (OPA-MBE) has been shown to be a good candidate for interfacial diffusion studies. Both -Fe2O3 and -Cr2O3 exhibit a corundum-like structure and -Cr2O3(0001) layers grown on -Fe2O3(001) maintain the same in-plane lattice constant. Interfacial diffusion of the -Fe2O3/-Cr2O3(0001) would most likely take place along the interstitial channels, however quantification of this diffusion has been problematic. Many techniques at measuring degrees of interfacial diffusion are unfortunately destructive to the sample, such as transmission electron spectroscopy (TEM). X-ray reflectivity (XRR) has been a robust approach at discerning interfacial thicknesses without ruining the sample for further studies. The caveat to diffusion studies using XRR is the requirement of a Bragg peak to determine the interfacial thicknesses. Heightening the intensity of the Bragg peak would be optimal to any diffusion study which can be done by constructing a superlattice with multiple repeat units. We would therefore like to propose the construction of multiple -Fe2O3/-Cr2O3(0001) samples with varying superlattice units using the OPA-MBE chamber at the EMSL facilities. The diffusion studies would subsequently be done at the University of Oregon.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2003-02-25
End Date
2004-03-02
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator