Coherent Epitaxial Semiconductor-Ferromagnetic Insulator InAs/EuS Interfaces: Band Alignment and Magnetic Structure

Yu Liu, Alessandra Luchini, Sara Marti-Sanchez, Christian Koch, Sergej Schuwalow, Sabbir A. Khan, Tomas Stankevic, Sonia Francoual, Jose R. L. Mardegan, Jonas A. Krieger, Vladimir N. Strocov, Jochen Stahn, Carlos A. F. Vaz, Mahesh Ramakrishnan, Urs Staub, Kim Lefmann, Gabriel Aeppli, Jordi Arbiol, Peter Krogstrup*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

25 Citations (Scopus)
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Abstract

Hybrid semiconductor-ferromagnetic insulator heterostructures are interesting due to their tunable electronic transport, self-sustained stray field, and local proximitized magnetic exchange. In this work, we present lattice-matched hybrid epitaxy of semiconductor-ferromagnetic insulator InAs/EuS heterostructures and analyze the atomic-scale structure and their electronic and magnetic characteristics. The Fermi level at the InAs/EuS interface is found to be close to the InAs conduction band and in the band gap of EuS, thus preserving the semiconducting properties. Both neutron and X-ray reflectivity measurements show that the overall ferromagnetic component is mainly localized in the EuS thin film with a suppression of the Eu moment in the EuS layer nearest the InAs and magnetic moments outside the detection limits on the pure InAs side. This work presents a step toward realizing defect-free semiconductor-ferromagnetic insulator epitaxial hybrids for spin-lifted quantum and spintronic applications without external magnetic fields.

Original languageEnglish
JournalA C S Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume12
Issue number7
Pages (from-to)8780-8787
Number of pages8
ISSN1944-8244
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 19 Feb 2020

Keywords

  • quantum computing
  • proximity effects
  • MBE
  • hybrid materials
  • magnetic proximity
  • exchange field
  • band alignment
  • EUS
  • SUPERCONDUCTOR
  • DIFFRACTION
  • BEAMLINE
  • FIELD
  • POLARIZATION
  • PRINCIPLES
  • SCATTERING
  • ADRESS
  • GROWTH

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