Research Stay of Viktor Schell

For my external research stay I chose the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores – Microsistemas e Nanotecnologias (INESC-MN) in Lisbon, Portugal and I have spent 6 weeks from August 8 to October 1 2022 in the group of Prof. Susana Cardoso. The main focus of her work is spintronics and magnetic field sensors based on magnetoresistive effects, such as GMR and TMR devices. Several of the thin film layers in these devices are deposited by ion beam deposition. During my stay I used this technique to grow the material FeCoSiB which is used as the sensitive element in several sensors developed within the CRC 1261. Due to the low deposition rate ion beam deposition is potentially most interesting for surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors, since the thickness of the FeCoSiB layer can be below 200 nm.

For the depositions I used two FeCoSiB targets which slightly varied in composition. Via vibrating sample magnetometery (VSM) I was able to magnetically characterize the deposited films in terms of magnetic anisotropy and its dependency on film thickness. Furthermore, I also deposited FeCoSiB films on SAW sensors choosing the optimal thickness obtained from the previous VSM investigations. The SAW sensors have been later investigated at Kiel University after the stay and showed very promising performances.

I was welcomed in Susana’s group very cordially and they integrated me seamless into their processes and labs. Lisbon is a beautiful and livable city with great food, people and culture which made my stay very pleasant also outside the lab.

Overall, I consider my stay a full success and the collaboration between the CRC 1261 and INESC-MN will continue. A collaborative publication is planed on the obtained results.

Viktor Schell