Analysis of the transport properties of epitaxial Fe and Cr films

Molecular beam epitaxy of Fe and Cr on single crystalline MgO(001) substrates produces films with very small defect concentrations. Accordingly, their low temperature transport properties art: characterized by extremely low bulk resistivities. The temperature dependence of the resistivity of the Cr films shows anomalies due to magnetic ordering effects around the Neel temperature T-N. We find values of T-N = 300 K which is close to the bulk value. The anomalous Hall effect of the Fe films shows typical ferromagnetic behaviour. The spontaneous Hall coefficient is proportional to the square of the resistivity indicative of side jump scattering. Fe/Cr superlattices grown under similar conditions are particularly suitable to study the influence of interface scattering on the giant magnetoresistance amplitude.