Perpendicular surface magnetic anisotropy in ultrathin epitaxial Fe films

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A (Vacuum, Surfaces and Films); (USA)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1116/1.576657· OSTI ID:7061347

Liu, C; Bader, S D ^[1]

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1. Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL (USA)

The {ital in} {ital situ} surface magneto-optic Kerr effect is used in conjunction with low-energy electron diffraction and Auger characterizations to study the surface magnetic anisotropy of ultrathin Fe films for various epitaxial structures: face-centered-cubic (fcc) Fe(100) on Cu(100), fcc Fe(111) on Ru(0001), body-centered-tetragonal (bct) Fe(100) on Pd(100), and body-centered-cubic (bcc) Fe(100) on Au(100). All of these films exhibit a universal behavior of perpendicular spin orientations below a critical thickness of six monolayers (ML) or less, in spite of their structural differences, suggesting a surface electronic as opposed to geometric origin of the magnetic anisotropy. These films differ in their monolayer-range magnetic properties due to interdiffusion and electronic interactions across the interface. Fe/Pd(100) and Fe/Au(100) exhibit submonolayer ferromagnetism and growth-temperature dependent magnetic anisotropy, while {lt}2 ML Fe/Ru(0001) lacks a ferromagnetic signature.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 7061347
• Journal Information: Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology, A (Vacuum, Surfaces and Films); (USA), Vol. 8:3; ISSN 0734-2101
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
IRON
MAGNETIZATION
AUGER ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
KERR EFFECT
MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY
SPIN ORIENTATION
THIN FILMS
DATA
DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ELEMENTS
EPITAXY
FILMS
INFORMATION
METALS
NUMERICAL DATA
ORIENTATION
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
SPECTROSCOPY
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
360104* - Metals & Alloys- Physical Properties