In Situ Analysis of magnetic and Structural Properties of Epitaxial and Polycrystalline Ni80Fe20 Thin Films

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe have investigated structural and magnetic properties of epitaxial Ni80Fe20 films grown on relaxed epitaxial Cu/Si (001) films. The crystallographic texture of these films was analyzed in situ by reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED), and ex situ by x-ray diffraction and cross-sectional transmission electron Microscopy (XTEM). In particular, RHEED intensities were recorded during epitaxial growth, and intensity profiles across Bragg rods were used to calculate the surface lattice constant, and hence, find the critical epitaxial thickness for which Ni80Fe20 grows pseudomorphically on Cu (100). XTEM analysis indicated that the epitaxial films had atomically-abrupt interfaces which was not the case for polycrystalline Cu and Ni80Fe20 film interfaces. The Magnetic properties of these epitaxial films were Measured in situ using Magneto-optic Kerr effect magnetometry and were compared with those of polycrystalline films grown on SiO2/Si. Large Hc (∼ 35 Oe) was observed for epitaxial Ni80Fe20 films less than 3.0 nm thick whereas for increasing thickness, Hc decreased approximately monotonically to a few Oersteds. Correlations were made between magnetic properties of these epitaxial films, the strain in the film and the interface roughness obtained from XTEM analysis.