Structural and magnetic anisotropy properties in epitaxial Fe films on Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As [001]

Study on the structural and magnetic anisotropy properties of Fe thin films deposited on the Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As layer lattice-matched on InP(001) substrate is reported. The mismatch in lattice parameters ((a/sub InP/-2a/sub Fe/)/a/sub InP/) is 2.2% while for Fe/GaAs(001) the misfit is -1.4%. The structural analysis are performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and reflection high-energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and the anisotropy constants are deduced from magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE) measurements. The epitaxy of the Fe layers on the Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As(001) surface is demonstrated. Results reveal that Fe/Al/sub 0.48/In/sub 0.52/As(001) qualitatively the same magnetic behaviour as the Fe/GaAs(001) system. This concerns in particular (for the lowest coverage < 2 nm) the large interfacial uniaxial magnetic anisotropy (UMA) with the easy axis along the [110] substrate direction.