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Phase Selection in Mn–Si Alloys by Fast Solid‐State Reaction with Enhanced Skyrmion Stability
Author(s) -
Li Zichao,
Xie Yufang,
Yuan Ye,
Ji Yanda,
Begeza Viktor,
Cao Lei,
Hübner René,
Rebohle Lars,
Helm Manfred,
Nielsch Kornelius,
Prucnal Slawomir,
Zhou Shengqiang
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
advanced functional materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.069
H-Index - 322
eISSN - 1616-3028
pISSN - 1616-301X
DOI - 10.1002/adfm.202009723
Subject(s) - materials science , skyrmion , annealing (glass) , spintronics , nucleation , curie temperature , condensed matter physics , phase (matter) , thin film , atmospheric temperature range , nanotechnology , ferromagnetism , thermodynamics , metallurgy , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry
B20‐type transition‐metal silicides or germanides are noncentrosymmetric materials hosting magnetic skyrmions, which are promising information carriers in spintronic devices. The prerequisite is to prepare thin films on technology‐relevant substrates with magnetic skyrmions stabilized at a broad temperature and magnetic‐field working window. A canonical example is the B20‐MnSi film grown on Si substrates. However, the as‐yet unavoidable contamination with MnSi 1.7 occurs due to the lower nucleation temperature of this phase. In this work, a simple and efficient method to overcome this problem and prepare single‐phase MnSi films on Si substrates is reported. It is based on the millisecond reaction between metallic Mn and Si using flash‐lamp annealing (FLA). By controlling the FLA energy density, single‐phase MnSi or MnSi 1.7 or their mixture can be grown at will. Compared with bulk MnSi, the prepared MnSi films show an increased Curie temperature of up to 41 K. In particular, the magnetic skyrmions are stable over a much wider temperature and magnetic‐field range than reported previously. The results constitute a novel phase selection approach for alloys and can help to enhance specific functional properties, such as the stability of magnetic skyrmions.