Morphology Induced Magnetic Anisotropy of Thin Films Deposited on Nanoscale Ripple Substrates

Magnetic properties of thin films are influenced by the morphology of substrates with periodically modulated patterns on the nanometer scale [1]. These well ordered surface modulations (ripple) can be produced by low energy ion beam erosion and are tuneable over a wide range [2]. Thin magnetic films deposited on these ripple surfaces repeat the surface profiles of these patterns and thus an additional uniaxial magnetic anisotropy is induced. This is shown for thin films of Fe, Co as well as the quasi-Heusler compound Fe3Si. The magnetic anisotropy is determined by means of angular- as well as frequency-dependent ferromagnetic resonance measurements using a vector network analyzer. We find a strong uniaxial magnetic anisotropy induced by the ripple surface, which is superimposed on the cubic anisotropy in the case of single crystalline films.
This work is supported by DFG grant FA 314/6-1.
[1] M. Körner et al., Phys. Rev. B 80, 214401 (2009).
[2] J. Fassbender et al., New Journal of Physics 11, 125002 (2009).