Bulk crystal growth and surface preparation of NiSb, MnSb, and NiMnSb

Maskery, Ian; Burrows, Christopher W.; Walker, Marc; Singh, Ravi P.; Balakrishnan, Geetha; Duffy, Jon A.; Bell, Gavin R.

Abstract

Bulk single crystal and polycrystalline samples of NiSb, MnSb, and NiMnSb have been grown and characterized. The lattice parameter of NiMnSb was found to be 5.945 ± 0.001 Å, around 0.25% larger than previous reports. The surface preparation of these materials was investigated using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Wet etching with HCl and argon ion sputtering were used in tandem with vacuum annealing. For both binary materials, a clean and stoichiometric surface could be regained by HCl etching and annealing alone. However, clean and stoichiometric ternary NiMnSb was not successfully prepared by these methods. The transition metal 2p and 3p levels are analyzed for all three materials.

Citation

Maskery, I., Burrows, C. W., Walker, M., Singh, R. P., Balakrishnan, G., Duffy, J. A., & Bell, G. R. (2016). Bulk crystal growth and surface preparation of NiSb, MnSb, and NiMnSb. Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B, 34(4), Article 041219. https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4953549

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 25, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 1, 2016
• Deposit Date: Feb 18, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: Feb 19, 2025
• Journal: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Nanotechnology and Microelectronics
• Print ISSN: 2166-2746
• Electronic ISSN: 2166-2754
• Publisher: American Institute of Physics
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 4
• Article Number: 041219
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4953549
• Keywords: Spintronics, Crystal lattices, Crystallography, Etching, Alloys, Annealing, Polycrystalline material, Sputter deposition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Stoichiometry
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/3174568
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.aip.org/avs/jvb/article/34/4/041219/587799/Bulk-crystal-growth-and-surface-preparation-of