Off-stoichiometry in Co2FeSi thin films sputtered from stoichiometric targets revealed by nuclear magnetic resonance

Co2FeSi is predicted to be a half-metallic ferromagnet with an extraordinary high magnetic moment and Curie temperature. However, a low tunnel magneto-resistance ratio, a lower spin polarization and a lower magnetic moment were experimentally observed in thin film samples. Consequently, thin Co2FeSi films of different groups were studied using spin-echo nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). NMR probes the local hyperfine fields of the active atoms, which strongly depend on the local environment. NMR is thus able to reveal the next neighbouring shells of the Co-59 nuclei in the Co2FeSi thin films. As expected, our NMR study shows the main resonance line corresponding to Co-59 nuclei in the L2(1)…