Applied Surface Science Advances 5 (2021) 100088

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Applied Surface Science Advances

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Interface-driven magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Fe4 N thin films

Seema a, Pooja Gupta b,c, Dileep Kumar a, V.R. Reddy a, Mukul Gupta a,∗
a
UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, University Campus, Khandwa Road, Indore 452 001, India
b
Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore 452013, India
c
Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushakti Nagar, Mumbai 400094, India

a b s t r a c t

The effect of film-substrate interface on the magnetic anisotropy (MA) of epitaxial Fe4 N thin films grown on single crystalline MgO (100) and MgO (111) substrates
has been studied in this work. Both samples were grown simultaneously using a reactive dc magnetron sputtering process at a substrate temperature of 250°C.
Single phase Fe4 N samples were found to grow epitaxially on (100) and (111) oriented MgO substrates as confirmed from out-of-plane x-ray diffraction and in-plane
𝜙-scan measurements. The MA of (100) and (111) oriented Fe4 N samples was measured using longitudinal magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE). In spite of being
grown simultaneously, the MA of both these samples was found to be different. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy and x-ray reflectivity measurements revealed the
formation of a dense layer at the film-substrate interface. The MA of this dense layer along with the MA of Fe4 N has a dramatic effect on magnetic reversal depending
on the orientation of the substrate. Further, from the MOKE measurements, the difference in the magnetization switching processes was found to depend on the
microstructure and orientation of Fe4 N thin films.

1. Introduction
Recently, tetra iron nitride (Fe4 N) has attracted considerable atten-
tion as a material of choice for spintronic and magnetic storage devices.
In view of this, the focus on exploring the electronic and magnetic prop-
erties of rare-earth-free ferromagnetic Fe4 N phase especially on oxide
surfaces has emerged. Fe4 N exhibits excellent properties such as high
saturation magnetization (Ms ≈ 2.5μB ), high and negative spin polariza-
tion ratio [1,2]. This compound is also more ecological due to the vast
abundance of Fe and N in nature. Additionally, Fe4 N has low coerciv-
ity, high electrical conductivity, high chemical stability and high Curie
temperature (761 K) [1]. Fe4 N when grown on oxide substrates show
some remarkable properties. A very high (75%) inverse magnetoresis-
tance has been reported for Fe4 N∣MgO∣Cu system by Komasaki et al.
[3], the bright perspectives of using Fe4 N in magnetic tunnel junctions
(MTJ) has come forward [4]. Current induced magnetization switching
have been reported in CoFeB (fixed layer)∣MgO∣Fe4 N(free layer) MTJ at
room temperature [5]. Also Fe4 N on BiFeO3 is reported to have perpen-
dicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) arising due to a tetragonal distortion
in the sample [6].
Fe4 N possess a simple anti-perovskite type structure which can be
grown epitaxially on oxide and metallic substrates such as SrTiO3 (STO),
LaAlO3 (LAO), MgO, Cu, Au etc. [7–16]. Study of magnetic anisotropy
(MA) on epitaxial Fe4 N films have been carried out extensively and
as expected a biaxial MA have been reported [8,12,17]. However, in
some reports the presence of an additional MA component has also been
found in Fe4 N thin films [8,11,18,19]. In a study of Fe4 N films on Cu
by Ecija et al. [11] symmetry breaking in easy and hard axis directions
had been observed in longitudinal and transverse M-H loops. In a the-
oretical study, PMA have been observed in Fe4 N films on MgO [20].
Especially, Fe4 N∣MgO structure is of interest as different observations
have been made for this system [19,20]. These anomalous observation
in MA behavior of Fe4 N on MgO have been reported to be caused by
surface texture and over-oxidation of substrate [20]. Costa et al. ex-
plained it on the basis of stress developed in the deposited films [21].
In another theoretical report of Fe4 N∣SiC interface, the nature of PMA
was found to be varying with stacking sequence of C and Fe atoms at
the interface [22]. Also, film-substrate interface play a very important
role in deciding the nature of magnetic properties of thin films [8].
Therefore, it is noteworthy to study the nature of the MA of Fe4 N films
on such oxide surfaces which are important from application point of
view.
Motivated by this, we studied the MA behavior of differently oriented
Fe4 N films on MgO, as there is no insight on the directional dependence
of this MA in Fe4 N films. In the present work, we have performed the
MA study of epitaxial Fe4 N thin films grown simultaneously on two MgO
substrates with (100) and (111) orientations. After confirming epitaxial
growth, we studied MA of Fe4 N films using magneto optical Kerr effect
(MOKE) microscopy. Strikingly, we observed anomalies in MA for dif-
ferently oriented Fe4 N films. Samples were also analyzed for structural
and chemical depth profile. Our study shows that one can manipulate
the MA of Fe4 N via substrate engineering and by choosing substrates
of different orientations which can be beneficial in developing novel
multi-functional spintronic devices.

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: ahlawatseema88@gmail.com, mgupta@csr.res.in (M. Gupta).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsadv.2021.100088
Received 8 October 2020; Received in revised form 8 March 2021; Accepted 9 March 2021
2666-5239/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
Seema, P. Gupta, D. Kumar et al. Applied Surface Science Advances 5 (2021) 100088

2. Experimental

Fe4 N thin films were simultaneously deposited on MgO (100) and

MgO (111) substrates using a direct current magnetron sputtering
(dcMS) system (Orion-8, AJA Int. Inc., USA). The substrate temperature
(Ts ) was kept at an optimized value of 250 °C [23,24]. A high purity
Fe (99.995%) target 𝜙 3 inch was used as a source and sputtered with
a dc power of 54 W. During the deposition, substrates were rotated in-
side the deposition chamber at 60 rpm for thickness and temperature
homogeneity. For Fe4 N phase formation, nitrogen gas flow (RN2 ) was
optimized and fixed at 13% (rest Ar), giving N2 :Ar ≈ 1:6. A base pres-
sure of 1×10−7 Torr or lower was achieved. Samples were loaded using
a load-lock mechanism and the sample holder was preheated at 500°C
to remove water and other contaminations on MgO substrates. There-
after, they were cooled down to room temperature and heated again to
Ts = 250 °C. The pressure during deposition was about 2.8 mTorr due
to flow of process gases.
To confirm the Fe4 N phase formation in deposited samples, they
were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) using a standard x-ray
diffractometer (Bruker D8 Advance) using CuK-𝛼 x-ray source. To check
the epitaxial nature and for structural analysis of Fe4 N on MgO (100)
and (111) substrates, in-plane (𝜙-scan) and x-ray reflectivity (XRR) mea-
surements were carried out using a high resolution x-ray diffractometer
(Bruker D8-Discover). The XRR data was fitted with a software based
on Parrat algorithm [25]. Chemical depth profiling were analyzed us-
Fig. 1. XRD data of Fe4 N film deposited at 250°C on (a) MgO (100) and (b) on
ing secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) in a Hiden Analytical SIMS MgO (111) substrates. The y-axis is in logarithmic scale.
workstation. A primary O+ 2
ions source was used to sputter the film with
a beam energy of 3 keV and ion-beam current of 150 nA. Magnetic
anisotropy was studied at room temperature using a magneto-optic Kerr
microscope equipped with an 8-LED array [26] (Evico magnetics, Ger-
many), at an applied field of ±20 and ±30 mT, by rotating the sample
in an applied field at 15° interval in longitudinal geometry. In a few
scans, pure L-MOKE measurement was also performed for better under-
standing. The microstructure and surface morphology of the films were
examined using atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements in non-
contact mode.

3. Results

XRD data (out-of-plane, 𝜃 - 2𝜃 geometry) of Fe4 N samples grown

on MgO (100) and MgO (111) substrates are shown in Fig. 1. Here, it
can be noticed that along with substrate MgO (100) peaks, the (200)
reflection of Fe4 N can be seen at 2𝜃 = 47.8° in Fig. 1 (a). No other
peaks were observed and this in turn shows that deposited film is a
single phase Fe4 N. In Fig. 1 (b), on MgO (111) substrate, only (111)
peak of Fe4 N can be seen at 41.2° (JCPDS 830875). This shows that
the Fe4 N films followed substrate orientation perfectly. For compari-
son, XRD scans for bare MgO substrate are also plotted in Fig. 1. The
out-of-plane lattice parameter (LP) calculated using Scherrer equation
comes out to be 3.802 (± 0.005) and 3.812 (± 0.005) Å, respectively for Fig. 2. 𝜙-scan data of Fe4 N film in [204] planes. Fe4 N is deposited at 250°C on
Fe4 N film on MgO (111) and MgO (100) substrates. The obtained values (a) MgO (111) and (b) MgO (100) substrate.
of LP were found to be slightly higher than the generally accepted value
of 3.795 Å [27]. This can be due to the lattice mismatch of Fe4 N and
MgO which is nearly 10%. In Fig. 2(b), the in-plane scan for Fe4 N film on MgO (111) substrate
In-plane 𝜙-scans were performed to determine the epitaxial relation- is shown. Here, for the same [204] plane of the (111) oriented MgO sub-
ship between film and substrate as shown in Fig. 2(a) and (b). These strate show six sharp peaks equally spaced at 60°. Often such six peaks
scans were performed by keeping 2𝜃 fixed at 109° and 130° correspond- in the in-plane scan of (111) oriented films and substrates such as MgO
ing to [024] plane of MgO (100) substrate and Fe4 N film. As expected, (111), Pt (111) etc. have been observed [29–31]. They can be attributed
four sharp peaks at 90° separation can be seen in Fig. 2(a)). Such 90° eq- to the two domain types which are 60° rotated with respect to each other
uispaced peaks are generally observed in (100) and (110) oriented sub- about the out-of-plane (111) direction. In MgO crystal grown in (111)
strates such as LAO and STO, signifying the cubic symmetry [8,15,28]. orientation, the fcc lattice stacking can have sequences either as AB-
The Fe4 N film peaks also followed these sharp peaks of substrate, sug- CABC... or ACBACB.... These two sequences occurring in a single lattice
gesting the epitaxial growth as Fe4 N(100)∣∣MgO(100). The reflection for structure can manifest themselves as two different fcc lattices which are
Fe4 N occur at the same azimuthal angle as that of MgO which signifies rotated by 60◦ , giving rise to six peaks instead of four that are gener-
that cube-on-cube growth is taking place. ally seen in cubic systems. Following this analogy when Fe4 N grows in

2
Seema, P. Gupta, D. Kumar et al.
Fig. 3. L-MOKE hysteresis loops of Fe4 N film deposited at 250°C on MgO (100)
at different angles (a) to (f) when rotated in magnetic field.
(111) direction, the same 60° rotated domains gets formed, resulting in
six peaks separated by 60° in 𝜙-scan. These 𝜙-scans also proved the epi-
taxial relation between the film and substrate as Fe4 N(111)∣∣MgO(111).
To study the MA of Fe4 N (100) and Fe4 N (111) samples, MOKE mea-
surements were carried out. Hysteresis loops taken at few selected an-
gles are shown in Fig. 3(a–f) for Fe4 N (100) and Fig. 4 (a–i) Fe4 N (111)
samples. First, the Fe4 N(100)∣MgO(100) sample is placed in horizontal
magnetic field and the obtained loop corresponding to 0° is shown in
Fig. 3(a). In this loop, a very sharp transition can be observed when the
applied field changes its direction. Here, one can see that the saturation
(Ms ) and the remnant magnetization (Mr ) are same as the squareness
ratio (Mr /Ms ≈ 1), and therefore, considered as the easy axis of magneti-
zation which is [100] direction for Fe4 N [12]. When the magnetic field
is applied along easy direction of the sample, the reversal takes place
by the nucleation and the subsequent propagation of domain walls and
sharp Barkhausen jump is detected. As the sample is rotated by 15° in
the field, the M-H loop remains unaffected, however the rotation by
30° leads to significant changes as shown in Fig 3 (c). Here a strange
step-like jump appears in the first and fourth quadrants. This feature
may correspond to some additional MA coming into play. Such features
have also been observed in Fe thin films deposited on MgO substrates
and are attributed to some additional MA which arises due to stress in
the deposited film [21]. This component get superimposed over existing
biaxial MA (BMA) of Fe and give rise to anamolous M-H loops as also
observed by Mallik et al. [32].
By changing the rotation angle to 45° (Fig. 3(c)), the additional MA
increases and at 60° (Fig. 3(d)) it reverses its direction and exchanges
the quadrants. Surprisingly, the loops at 45 and 60° are exactly im-
age of each other in 1st and 3rd quadrants. One can see that the pres-
ence of this additional MA leads to the disappearance of magnetic hard
axis which is generally observed near 45° or along the (011) direction
and disturbs the four-fold nature of MA. Here, the expected four-fold
anisotropy behavior of Fe4 N could not be observed. Further, rotating
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Applied Surface Science Advances 5 (2021) 100088
Fig. 4. L-MOKE hysteresis loops of Fe4 N film deposited at 250°C on MgO (111)
at different angles (a) to (i) when rotated in magnetic field.
the sample to 75° (Fig. 3(e)), the strength of additional MA reduces and
at 90° (Fig. 3(f)) again Mr /Ms ≈ 1 and the easy axis is observed main-
taining the orthogonal symmetry. Further rotating the sample beyond
90◦ , the repetition of loops take place maintaining a 90° symmetry. The
loop at 120° (150°) is identical to 30° (60°). The additional MA is in a
direction which corresponds to the hard axis of Fe4 N film and one can
say that this additional MA has a directional dependence. This MA gets
superimposed over both hard axes of Fe4 N. In the subsequent discussion
section, we will refer this MA as additional BMA (aBMA) in case of (100)
Fe4 N sample.
The MA behavior of the (111) oriented Fe4 N films on MgO(111) is
quite different as compared to that observed for the (100) oriented sam-
ple in the same measurement geometry. The hysteresis loops for the
(111) sample are shown in Fig. 4. Here, the additional MA can be ob-
served even for at 0°. To further clarify the nature of this component,
pure longitudinal-MOKE (LMOKE) scan was also performed and this ad-
ditional component disappears as shown in Fig. 4 (a). It indicates that
this MA might have a transverse nature. For this loop, Mr /Ms ≈ 0.24
indicating a magnetic hard axis. On rotating the sample by 15◦ , the
strength of this component increases as shown in Fig. 4 (b). For 30◦ , it
appears on the decreasing field cycle and shifting the quadrant as shown
in Fig. 4 (c). At 45◦ , again pure LMOKE was taken and the Mr /Ms ratio
increases to 0.53. Further rotating the sample to 60° and 75◦ , as shown
in Fig. 4 (e) and (f), asymmetric behavior can be observed in increasing
and decreasing field cycles. At 90◦ , the easy axis of magnetization is ob-
served for 90◦ , where Mr /Ms approaches to 1. Also the magnetization
Seema, P. Gupta, D. Kumar et al.
Fig. 5. Polar plots showing angular dependence of coercivity (H𝑐 ) in Fe4 N film
deposited on MgO (100) (a) and MgO (111) (b). 0° refers to conventional direc-
tion of the easy axis (001) for the Fe4 N films.
Fig. 6. Schematic showing the easy axis (e.a.) and hard axis (h.a.) of magneti-
zation in (100) and (111) oriented Fe4 N films in (a) and (b), respectively. The
easy axis (bold) and hard axis (dash) along with additional MA (long dash) are
shown for illustration in (100) and (111) oriented film.
switching behavior of easy axis of (111) sample is different from (100).
In Fig. 4 (g) and (h), for 90 and 120° loops, the Mr values at increasing
and decreasing field cycles are not the same. For the (111) oriented film,
the 90° repetitive behavior of MA is not observed implying that the bi-
axial symmetry of MA is absent and the sample have only one easy and
one hard axis of magnetization. In general, the magnetic anisotropy of
pure Fe show hard behavior in (111) direction [21,32]. Here in both
films, additional component of MA is only affecting the switching be-
havior along the hard axis of magnetization. Therefore, this additional
MA is affecting (100) and (111) oriented Fe4 N samples along hard axis
of magnetization only.
Fig. 5 (a) and (b) shows the variation of coercivity (H𝑐 ) with the angle
of rotation in-plane of the applied field for (100) and (111) Fe4 N film.
Such plots can ascertain the reversal mechanism of magnetization in
thin films. Here also differences in magnetic reversal about hard axis of
(100) and (111) oriented film have been observed and it can be inferred
that anisotropy of Fe4 N film depends on the orientation. To summarize
the observations in MA of (100) and (111) Fe4 N films, Fig. 6 shows a
schematic representation of directional dependence of the MA and how
additional MA affects the hard axis in both samples. In principle, the
easy axis (e.a. I and II) should be orthogonal to each other maintaining
cubic symmetry for Fe4 N as shown in Fig. 6 (a). The hard axis (h.a. I
and II) are supposed to lie in between the easy axes. Corresponding to
these two hard axes, the superimposed aBMA is shown. We observed
that this aBMA does not have a fixed direction, and start to appear from
30° rotation. Here in this schematic, it is marked where its affect is max-
imum (60°). Fig. 6 (b) shows nature of MA for (111) oriented Fe4 N film.
In this sample, the easy and hard axis were found to be perpendicular
to each other showing uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA). Here, the
additional component is also appears to be uniaxial.
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Applied Surface Science Advances 5 (2021) 100088
Fig. 7. SIMS depth profile of 57 Fe and 14
N and 25
Mg in Fe4 N film on (a) MgO
(100) and (b) (111) substrate.
To probe the anomalies observed in the MA behavior of Fe4 N (100)
and (111) samples, we measured the depth profile of these samples us-
ing SIMS and XRR. SIMS measurements provided a direct depth profile
that were subsequently used to fit the XRR data. Fig. 7 (a) and (b) shows
the depth profile of 57 Fe and 14 N and 25 Mg in both Fe4 N samples. We
found that in (100) oriented sample, the Fe and N profiles are skewed
in surface region as shown in Fig. 7 (a). The concentration of N is high
and Fe is less in the top few nm of the film. This might happen due to
accumulation of N atoms at the surface due to diffusion of N atoms from
Fe4 N. In addition, it can be noticed that Fe concentration peaks at the
film-substrate interface. This intermixing of Fe from the film into the
substrate indicate a presence of a Fe-rich layer. However, in (111) film
as shown in Fig. 7 (b), Fe and N profiles exhibit are non-linear behavior
across the depth of the film. This means that there exist some concentra-
tion gradient of Fe and N within the film. Such chemical inhomogeneity
arising due to N diffusion in Fe4 N films can severely affect the magnetic
properties as observed recently [8,33]. If we observe the Mg profiles
carefully, we can see that Mg is also diffused more into the (111) film
as compared to (100) oriented film. We can correlate from here that the
high concentration of Fe at the bottom of the film is preventing Mg diffu-
sion into the film in case of (100) oriented film. However, in (111) film
the concentration of Fe is less at interface as compared to (100) film.
As a result of this, Mg diffuses more into (111) oriented Fe4 N film as
compared to (100) Fe4 N film. Such behavior has also been observed in
Fe4 N films grown on LAO substrate at 400° C. Here also Fe layer formed
at the interface inhibits La diffusion into the film [8]. At 400° C substrate
interdiffusion is expected to be high [24], however, in the present case,
in-spite of keeping the growth temperature low (250° C), significant Mg
diffusion can be evidenced. This again demands the usage to diffusion
barrier buffer layers even for single crystal substrates such as LAO and
MgO [24].
Though SIMS depth profiles clearly indicated the presence of concen-
tration gradient, its poor depth resolution (∼ 5 nm) is not sufficient to
probe surface and interface layers accurately. XRR on the other hand can
precisely determine such variances in the surface and interface regions.
However, fitting of XRR data is performed on the basis of information
obtained from SIMS measurements as shown in fig. 8.
Although both samples were grown simultaneously, some differences
can be observed in the XRR pattern. In order to find the best fit of
data, it was necessary to include an interface (≈ 2 nm) with density
5% higher than Fe4 N for (100) oriented film. However, for (111) film,
the density of interface was about 2% higher than that of Fe4 N. The
mass density of Fe4 N as estimated from the SLD of main layer was
found to be 7.29 gcm−3 , which is close to its theoretical mass density
−3
of 7.22 gcm [28]. A thin top layer owing to surface-oxidation was also
included in the model. The scattering length density (SLD) profile ob-
tained from the best fit models are shown in Fig. 9 (a) and (b). Here a
dense interface layer is clearly visible in both samples which is in agree-
ment with the SIMS depth profiles.
Seema, P. Gupta, D. Kumar et al.
Fig. 8. XRR data of Fe4 N film deposited at 250°C on MgO (100) and (111)
substrates. The y-axis is in logarithmic scale. Inset (a) and (b) show 1×1 𝜇m2
3D AFM images of Fe4 N films on MgO (100) and (111) substrate, respectively.
Fig. 9. Scattering length density (SLD) profile of Fe4 N film on (a) MgO (100)
and (b) MgO (111) substrate.
Also, it was found that (111) oriented film has more roughness
(11.5 Å) than (100) film (1.8 Å). Therefore, it may be assumed that
this high density interface has significant affect on the magnetic proper-
ties on Fe4 N film. We also carried out AFM measurements for the surface
morphology and microstructural analysis of deposited samples. Fig. 8 in-
set (a) and (b) show the AFM images of (100) and (111) Fe4 N film, re-
spectively. The (100) oriented film shows well dispersed particles while
the (111) oriented film does not show a fine microstructure. The rough-
ness of the (100) and (111) sample extracted by analyzing images in
WSXM software [34], are found to be 5 and 7.5 nm, respectively. These
roughness values are in agreement with our model for XRR data.
Therefore, the possible explanation for the variation in the MA be-
havior of both Fe4 N samples can be due to differences in their orien-
tation and interface structure. The probing depth of the laser in MOKE
measurements is nearly 30 nm, which is similar to the thickness of these
films. This suggests that using MOKE we can probe anisotropy arising
from the interface of film and substrate. Hence, additional MA which is
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Applied Surface Science Advances 5 (2021) 100088
arising in both Fe4 N films can be attributed to the dense layer formed at
the film-substrate interface. Denser Fe-rich interface, give rise to addi-
tional MA which is superimposing on cubic MA of Fe4 N. However, the
quantification of this additional MA is not possible at this moment. This
layer might have formed due to N-diffusion at the initial stage of film
growth. The interface layer prevents Mg diffusion in to the film giving
chemical homogeneity in the (100) oriented film. A chemically homo-
geneous (100) Fe4 N film shows BMA, while (111) oriented film in which
Fe and N profiles are not uniform, exhibit UMA. Since, by changing the
film orientation, one changes the stacking sequence in the film, which
might induce changes in anisotropic properties.
Some recent reports showed that intersection of the ascending and
descending curves in magnetization measurements can take place and
is consistent with the Stoner-Wohlfarth model [36]. Asymmetric hys-
teresis loops were also observed due to undetected minor loops or in
systems with a rotational anisotropy [19,37]. Anomaly in the MOKE
hysteresis loops of epitaxial thin films have been observed in various
studies considering their thickness and interfaces. In case of Fe ultrathin
films, Buchmeier et al. [38] suggested that the anisotropic second-order
magneto-optic coupling might strongly depend on the Fe film proper-
ties. Quadratic MOKE effects in Fe/MgO system with similar kind of
loops were observed by Silber et al. [35] recently and with such tech-
nique one can separate linear and quadratic contributions. Such effects
have not been yet observed in Fe4 N films. The present case matches with
the above discussed literature in terms of quadratic effects, the origin
of which can be understood well with the help of model based micro-
magnetic simulations [39–42]. A model based study taking into account
the domain structure, interface effects and film orientation can be fol-
lowed in future to reveal the origin of unexpected asymmetries in MA.
The fundamental understanding of this anomalous MA and its direc-
tional dependence in homogeneous Fe4 N films can be applied in order
to prepare magnetic films with custom-made directional properties.
Conclusion
In this work, we investigated the MA of epitaxial Fe4 N films grown
simultaneously on (100) and (111) MgO substrates. We found that
while both films grow epitaxially, the obtained lattice parameters differ
marginally. The MA studies showed that both films possess an additional
anisotropy along with MA of Fe4 N. The (100) oriented film exhibit an
additional MA superimposed on the conventional BMA of Fe4 N, while
the (111) oriented film showed UMA along with additional MA. The dif-
ferences in nature of MA of (100) and (111) oriented Fe4 N films were
understood by examining structural and chemical depth profiles. The
inhomogeneity in Fe and N depth profile might have lead to loss of
BMA behavior in (111) Fe4 N film. The SIMS data also helped in under-
standing the high-density layer formation at the film-substrate interface
in the Fe4 N films. This dense interface layer prevents Mg diffusion in to
the film and results in homogeneous Fe and N concentration throughout
the (100) oriented Fe4 N film.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank L. Behera and Yogesh for the help provided in
laboratory. We are also thankful to A. Gome and Manik Kuila for 𝜙-scan
and MOKE measurements. We thank Mohan Gangrade and R. Vanketesh
for AFM measurements.
Seema, P. Gupta, D. Kumar et al.
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