Effect of Cr substitution for Fe on the magnetic and electronic properties of electrodeposited Co 48.4 Fe 21.9 Sn 29.7 alloy film

Abstract Electrodeposited Co 47.9 Fe 21.7 Sn 30.4 and Co 48.3 Fe 19.3 Cr 3.1 Sn 29.3 alloy films with thickness of 780 nm exhibited the ordered L 2 1 -type Heusler alloy structure after heat treatment at 550 °C. Both the films exhibit soft ferromagnetic nature with saturation magnetization of ∼4.5 μ B /f.u. and effective anisotropy constant of ∼10 6 erg/cc at 5 K. Ab initio calculations reveal that half-metallicity is induced in Co 48.4 Fe 21.9 Sn 29.7 alloy upon substituting ∼3.1 at.% of Cr in the place of Fe. The high value (∼7.1 meV) of minimum excitation energy required for the majority charge carriers to transit to empty minority states through spin–flip scattering obtained from DC electrical resistivity studies supports the half-metallicity in Co 48.3 Fe 19.3 Cr 3.1 Sn 29.3 alloy films. This study showcases a promising spintronic Heusler alloy composition apart from demonstrating electrodeposition as a low-cost method for producing high quality quaternary Heusler alloy films.