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Magnetic Binary Silicide Nanostructures
Author(s) -
Goldfarb Ilan,
Cesura Federico,
Dascalu Matan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
advanced materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.707
H-Index - 527
eISSN - 1521-4095
pISSN - 0935-9648
DOI - 10.1002/adma.201800004
Subject(s) - nanostructure , materials science , silicide , ferromagnetism , condensed matter physics , magnetocrystalline anisotropy , binary number , nanotechnology , magnetic anisotropy , magnetic moment , magnetic field , magnetization , layer (electronics) , physics , arithmetic , mathematics , quantum mechanics
In spite of numerous advantageous properties of silicides, magnetic properties are not among them. Here, the magnetic properties of epitaxial binary silicide nanostructures are discussed. The vast majority of binary transition‐metal silicides lack ferromagnetic order in their bulk‐size crystals. Silicides based on rare‐earth metals are usually weak ferromagnets or antiferromagnets, yet both groups tend to exhibit increased magnetic ordering in low‐dimensional nanostructures, in particular at low temperatures. The origin of this surprising phenomenon lies in undercoordinated atoms at the nanostructure extremities, such as 2D (surfaces/interfaces), 1D (edges), and 0D (corners) boundaries. Uncompensated superspins of edge atoms increase the nanostructure magnetic shape anisotropy to the extent where it prevails over its magnetocrystalline counterpart, thus providing a plausible route toward the design of a magnetic response from nanostructure arrays in Si‐based devices, such as bit‐patterned magnetic recording media and spin injectors.