Transition of magnetic anisotropy in Ni/GaAs (0 0 1) observed by magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance

Abstract

Polycrystalline thin Ni films deposited onto GaAs (0 0 1) show a transition of the magnetic anisotropy depending on its thickness. The anisotropy is perpendicular to the film plane for the thicknesses of the film ⩽12 nm. This becomes in-plane in the films having thicknesses ⩾15 nm. The films are deposited onto the n-type GaAs (0 0 1) substrate by the usual thermal evaporation method and also by the electron beam evaporation in ultra high vacuum onto a GaAs epilayer in the standard molecular beam epitaxy system. The magnetization and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) are observed in the temperature range from 4.2 to 300 K. For the discussion of the microscopic origin of the anomalous properties in magnetization and FMR experiments, the experimental results are reviewed by introducing a uniaxial anisotropy, which is calculated from the easy-axis and hard-axis magnetization data. This calculated anisotropy is able to explain the temperature and angle dependency of the FMR spectra of the Ni films. Hence the magnetization and FMR spectra are in agreement with the type of the anisotropy and its temperature dependency. In addition to these, the temperature dependence of the in-plane magnetic anisotropy is able to explain the previously reported anomalous effect of reducing the squareness at low temperatures in Ni/GaAs.