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Solid state phase equilibria in the Fe-Ga-As system

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 1998

S. Députier
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chimie du Solide et Inorganique Moléculaire (UMR CNRS-Université 6511), Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
R. Guérin
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Chimie du Solide et Inorganique Moléculaire (UMR CNRS-Université 6511), Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
A. Guivarc'h
Affiliation:
Équipe de Physique des Surfaces et des Interfaces (UMR CNRS-Université 6627), Campus de Beaulieu, 35042 Rennes Cedex, France
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Abstract

Solid state phase equilibria in the ternary Fe-Ga-As diagram were determined at 600 °C using powder X-ray diffraction as experimental techniques. Very limited solid solubilities were measured in the binary constituent Fe-Ga and Fe-As compounds. In the Fe-rich part of the diagram, a ternary phase was evidenced which corresponds in fact to a solid solution into which Ga and As substitute one another on the same sublattice. This phase, which can be expressed by the general formula Fe3Ga2−xAsx (0.20 ≤ x ≤ 1.125), crystallizes in hexagonal symmetry; it is structurally derived from the NiAs type-structure (B81) and can be considered, owing to its c/a ratio (1.23 ≤ c/a ≤ 1.28) close to $\sqrt{3}/\sqrt{2}$, as hexagonal-pseudocubic. The original feature of this experimental diagram is the occurrence of a tie-line between this ternary phase and the semiconductor GaAs which differs significantly from the theoretical diagram, estimated from simplified calculations proposed by Schmid-Fetzer. In particular, it is the first time that such a ternary phase Mx(Ga, As)y (M = transition metal) is found to be in thermodynamic equilibrium with GaAs. This fact suggests that the solid state interdiffusions which occur during the annealing of a Fe/GaAs heterostructure could lead to a ferromagnetic, epitaxial and stable Fe3GaAs/GaAs contact.

Keywords

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, 1998

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