Aberration corrected STEM of iron rhodium nanoislands

Abstract

Iron-rhodium (FeRh) nanoislands of equiatomic composition have been analysed using scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) electron energy loss spec-troscopy(EELS) and high angle annular dark field (HAADF) techniques. Previous magne-tometry results have lead to a hypothesis that at room temperature the core of the islands are antiferromagnetic while the shell has a small ferromagnetic signal. The causes of this effect are most likely to be a difference in composition at the edges or a strain on the island that stretches the lattice and forces the ferromagnetic transition. The results find, at the film-substrate interface, an iron-rich layer ~ 5 Å thick that could play a key role in affecting the magnetostructural transition around the interfacial region and account for the room temperature ferromagnetism.