Abstract
The dependence of the interface quality on growth temperature in 57Fe/V (001) single-crystal multilayers was investigated using conversion electron Mössbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and X-ray diffraction (xrd). The samples, with 7 atomic layers (AL) of isotope-enriched Fe and 5 AL of V, were grown by dc magnetron sputtering onto MgO (001) substrates at temperatures Tg in the range 230–430°C. The xrd results confirmed the previous findings on optimum temperature for sharp interfaces (Tg = 300–330°C), whereas the CEMS data suggested that the short-range order was similar in all samples with Tg ⩽ 330°C. The film grown at 430°C was significantly different, with clear signs of alloying throughout the Fe layers. Additional magneto-optical measurements showed the expected ferromagnetic behaviour.