The talk will cover subjects of my PhD and postdoc work. The two are mostly concerned with the determination of thin film’s structures, their origin and influences on macro-properties such as internal stress. The PhD work was focused on epitaxial growth of Fe4N by MBE assisted with a source of atomic N. This compound was a part of an all-nitride magnetic tunnel junction Fe4N/Cu3N/Fe4N, where a current is tunnelling through the insulating Cu3N layer (a gap of 1.8 eV was estimated). During the postdoc, the microstructure of Cr films was studied in relation with internal stress. Cr films were produced in an industrial magnetron coater. There are numerous ways to take a closer look at different structural features of thin films. In the talk, examples of successful use of the following techniques will be presented: X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS), Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (STM), Auger Electron Spectroscopy (AES), Low Energy Electron Diffraction (LEED), Low Energy Ion Scattering (LEIS), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM).
UMR CNRS/Saint gobain, Aubervilliers