Epitaxial stabilization of ordered Pd–Fe structures on perovskite substrates

We report the fabrication of epitaxial ferromagnetic Pd₃Fe thin films on SrTiO₃(001) substrates by promoting the interdiffusion of an Fe/Pd multilayer heterostructure using thermal annealing. Prior to annealing, the results of in-situ Reflection High-Energy Electron Diffraction characterization suggest that each Fe and Pd layer exhibited an in-plane epitaxial relationship with the SrTiO₃(001) substrate. X-Ray diffraction and magneto-optic Kerr effect characterization, conducted post-annealing, demonstrate that the film composition is majority Pd₃Fe and exhibits in-plane magnetization reversal with a moderate coercive field of ≈760 Oe. This demonstration of an ordered atomic layer heterostructure grown on a perovskite substrate suggests a route to epitaxial interfacial structures which can achieve strain-assisted magnetic switching.