Magnetic and structural modifications in Fe and Ni films prepared by ion-assisted deposition

Abstract

We summarize our observations of in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced in 1000 Å Ni and Fe thin films by 100 eV Xe+ ion bombardment during deposition. The anisotropy was measured by means of the magneto-optic Kerr effect and full angular scan ferromagnetic resonance. The maximum in-plane anisotropy field was 150 Oe for Ni and 80 Oe for Fe. The hard direction of magnetization lies parallel to the plane of incidence for Ni and perpendicular to it for Fe. An expansion of the lattice of up to 0.6% normal to the film and an enhancement of the fiber texture are found in both cases. This out-of-plane expansion is accompanied by an in-plane compression. In addition, a small in-plane difference in lattice spacings (<0.2%) is found between directions parallel and perpendicular to the plane of incidence of the ions. The in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is attributed to the in-plane anisotropic strain using a simple magnetoelastic model.