Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy of an Ultrathin Fe Layer Grown on NiO(001)

Abstract

The magnetic anisotropy and magnetic interactions at the interface between $\mathrm{Fe}$ and $\mathrm{Ni}\mathrm{O}$(001) were investigated. Depending on the growth conditions of the $\mathrm{Ni}\mathrm{O}$(001) layers and the postannealing temperature, the preferential magnetization direction of the ultrathin $\mathrm{Fe}$ layer grown on a $\mathrm{Ni}\mathrm{O}$(001) layer changed from the in-plane direction to a direction perpendicular to the film plane. The lattice constant of the $\mathrm{Ni}\mathrm{O}$(001) layers parallel to the growth direction increased with ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ flow rate, while that parallel to the in-plane direction were locked onto the MgO(001) substrate regardless of the growth conditions of the NiO layers. Moreover, perpendicular magnetization was observed only when the NiO layer was grown with ${\mathrm{O}}_{2}$ flow rates higher than 2.0 sccm corresponding to oxygen-rich NiO. X-ray magnetic circular dichroism measurements revealed an enhancement in anisotropic orbital magnetic moments similar to the origin of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy at the $\mathrm{Fe}$/MgO(001) interface. The interfacial magnetic anisotropy energies were 0.93 and $1.02\phantom{\rule{0.2em}{0ex}}{\mathrm{mJ}/\mathrm{m}}^{2}$ at room temperature and at 100 K, respectively, indicating less temperature dependence. In contrast, the coercivity ${H}_{c}$ exhibited a significant temperature dependence. Although no signature of exchange bias or unidirectional loop shift was observed, ${H}_{c}$ was strongly dependent on the NiO layer thickness, indicating that the exchange interaction at the interface between the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic layers was not negligible, despite the NiO(001) being a spin-compensated surface.