Preferred site occupation of 3 atoms in NiFeN ( = 1 and 3) films revealed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy and magnetic circular dichroism

Takata, Fumiya*; Ito, Keita*; Takeda, Yukiharu   ; Saito, Yuji  ; Takanashi, Koki*; Kimura, Akio*; Suemasu, Takashi*

X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements were performed at the Ni and Fe absorption edges for NiFeN ( = 1 and 3) epitaxial films. Shoulders at approximately 2 eV above the Ni main peaks in the XAS spectrum of NiFeN were interpreted to originate from hybridization of orbitals between Ni 3 at face-centered (II) sites and N 2 at body-centered sites, while such features were missing in NiFeN film. Similar shoulders were observed at Fe edges in both films. Hence, Ni atoms preferentially occupied corner (I) sites, where the hybridization was weak because of the relatively long distance between Ni at I sites and N atoms. The relatively large magnetic moment deduced from sum-rule analysis of NiFeN also showed a good agreement with the presence of Ni atoms at I sites.