Magnetic Characterization of Cobalt Selenide and Nickel Selenide Thin Films

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are a family of materials whose crystalline structure consists of a layer of transition metal atoms sandwiched between 2 layers of chalcogenide atoms. Some of these materials can be grown in 2D hexagonal phase and show tunability of their electrical and magnetic properties based on layer thickness. One aspect of these materials that has received little attention is their magnetic properties. Hence, we have investigated magnetic properties of CoSe and NiSe (both 2D semiconductors), and their heterostructure. The reason for choosing these intrinsically ferromagnetic transition metal atoms based TMCs was to examine how reduction from the bulk to 2D films would influence the magnetic activity of these samples. In order to produce large area films, we have employed atomic layer deposition (ALD) for growth of uniform, few layer-thick films. First the composition and crystal structure of these films are characterized, and then their magnetic properties analyzed. We have found that thin films of both these materials show mostly paramagnetic behavior.