Influence of Capping Layers on Magnetic Anisotropy in Fe/MgO/GaAs(100) Ultrathin Films

Abstract

Magnetic anisotropies of Fe/MgO/GaAs(100) hybrid structure with two different nonmagnetic capping materials, Au and MgO have been studied by ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). A uniaxial anisotropy, unexpected from the crystal structure was observed in the ultrathin films for both capping materials. Its global easy axis is along [0-11] direction while two (010) directions are equally magnetic hard regardless of the overlayer material. The in-plane uniaxial anisotropy (in-plane cubic anisotropy) of the Au capped samples is stronger (weaker) than that of the MgO capped ones within the range of t _Fe = 7.1 to 28 ML. This suggests that the MgO overlayer suppresses the uniaxial anisotropy faster than the Au overlayer.