Tunable in-plane spin orientation in Fe/Si (557) film by step-induced competing magnetic anisotropies *Project supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos. 2015CB921403 and 2016YFA0300701) and the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51427801, 11374350, 11274360, and 11274361). (15th November 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Tang 汤, Jin 进; He 何, Wei 为; Zhang 张, Yong-Sheng 永圣; Li 李, Yan 岩; Zhang 张, Wei 伟; Ahmad, Syed Sheraz; Zhang 张, Xiang-Qun 向群; Cheng 成, Zhao-Hua 昭华
• Is Part Of: Chinese physics B. Volume 25:Number 12(2016)
• Publication Date: 2016-11-15
• Subjects: 75.70.Ak -- 75.30.Gw; Fe/Si (557) films -- spin-reorientation transition -- competing magnetic anisotropies; Physics -- Periodicals; Physics; Periodicals; 530.05
• DOI: 10.1088/1674-1056/25/12/127501
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1674-1056

Abstract

Abstract: Although the spin-reorientation transition from out-of-plane to in-plane in Fe/Si film is widely reported, the tuning of in-plane spin orientation is not yet well developed. Here, we report the thickness-, temperature- and Cu-adsorption- induced in-plane spin-reorientation transition processes in Fe/Si (557) film, which can be attributed to the coexistence of two competing step-induced uniaxial magnetic anisotropies, i.e., surface magnetic anisotropy with magnetization easy axis perpendicular to the step and volume magnetic anisotropy with magnetization easy axis parallel to the step. For Fe film thickness smaller than 32 monolayer (ML), the magnitudes of two effects under various temperatures are extracted from the thickness dependence of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. For Fe film thickness larger than 32 ML, the deviation of experimental results from fitting results is understood by the strain-relief-induced reduction of volume magnetic anisotropy. Additionally, the surface and volume magnetic anisotropies are both greatly reduced after covering Cu capping layer on Fe/Si (557) film while no significant influence of NaCl capping layer on step-induced magnetic anisotropies is observed. The experimental results reported here provide various practical methods for manipulating in-plane spin orientation of Fe/Si films and improve the understanding of step-induced magnetic anisotropies.