Growth and characterisation of ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic Fe2+x V y Al Heusler alloy films

We investigated growth, annealing conditions and magnetic properties of the Heusler alloy Fe2+x V y Al by means of x-ray diffraction, magnetic hysteresis and exchange-bias measurements. Ferromagnetic Heusler alloy films were obtained by sputtering Fe2VAl and Fe3VAl targets and performing post-growth annealing. The characteristic (2 2 0) Heusler alloy peaks were seen in the x-ray diffraction measurements and corresponding ferromagnetic behaviours were observed. In addition, antiferromagnetic Heusler alloy films were deposited by employing Al pegs on Fe3VAl sputtering targets. The deposited films had elemental ratios close to the predicted Fe2.5V0.5Al phase, and a 16 Oe exchange-bias was measured in a Fe2.3V0.7Al/Co60Fe40 system at 100 K.