Magnetic and Structural Study of (ZnTe)/Co Core-Shell Nanowires Grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy

Arrays of crystalline ZnTe nanowires grown by vapor-liquid-solid mechanism were covered with cobalt in a molecular beam epitaxy system. Magnetic and structural characterization of such core/shell nanowires was performed. Using scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy it was found that the mean shell thickness of cobalt was about 35% of the nominal deposition thickness. Deposited cobalt had a polycrystalline structure covering the ZnTe nanowires evenly along their length. With the increment of temperature during Co deposition the roughness of the nanowire sidewalls increases. Vibrating sample magnetometry measurements revealed that the magnetization easy-axis direction is perpendicular to the long axis of the nanowires, which is in agreement with theoretical predictions. Oxidation of Co shell does not change the anisotropy direction of such structures, however it increases their coercivity. Exchange bias effect at the interface of cobalt and cobalt oxides suggested by some authors is not responsible for such anisotropy orientation.