Abstract
The increasing technological importance of thin insulating layers calls for a thorough understanding of their structure. Here we apply scanning probe methods to investigate the structure of ultrathin magnesium oxide (MgO) which is the insulating material of choice in spintronic applications. A combination of force and current measurements gives high spatial resolution maps of the local three-dimensional insulator structure. When force measurements are not available, a lower spatial resolution can be obtained from tunneling images at different voltages. These broadly applicable techniques reveal a previously unknown complexity in the structure of MgO on Ag(001), such as steps in the insulator-metal interface.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 1739-1744 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | ACS Nano |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 25 Feb 2014 |
Keywords
- atomic force microscopy
- conductive AFM
- magnesium oxide
- scanning tunneling microscopy
- thickness determination
- thin insulating films
- thin oxide films