title: Epitaxy of MgO magnetic tunnel barriers  on epitaxial graphene.
abstract: Epitaxial growth of electrodes and tunnel barriers on graphene is one of the main technological bottlenecks for graphene spintronics. In this paper, we demonstrate that MgO(111) epitaxial tunnel barriers, one of the prime candidates for spintronic application, can be grown by molecular beam epitaxy on epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001). Ferromagnetic metals (Fe, Co, Fe20Ni80) were epitaxially grown on top of the MgO barrier, thus leading to monocrystalline electrodes on graphene. Structural and magnetic characterizations were performed on these ferromagnetic metals after annealing and dewetting: they form clusters with a 100 nm typical lateral width, which are mostly magnetic monodomains in the case of Fe. This epitaxial stack opens the way to graphene spintronic devices taking benefits from a coherent tunnelling current through the epitaxial MgO/graphene stack.
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Godel
authors.forename: Emmanuelle
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pichonat
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vignaud
authors.forename: Hicham
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Majjad
authors.forename: Dominik
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Metten
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Berciaud
authors.forename: Jean-Francois
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Dayen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Halley