Magnetic anisotropy of Fe0.34Co0.66(110) on GaAs(110)

The tailoring of the magnetic properties, especially the anisotropies of ferromagnets on semiconductors, is of prime importance to the field of spintronics, e.g., spin injection. We have investigated the magnetic anisotropy of epitaxial Fe0.34Co0.34(110) films grown by molecular beam epitaxy on GaAs(110). The samples were studied by means of alternating gradient magnetometry and ferromagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The angular dependent magnetic energy density observed can be explained by two main contributions to the magnetic anisotropy: an effective cubic anisotropy K-1(eff)(t) caused by the symmetry of the Fe0.34Co0.66 bcc lattice and an effective uniaxial anisotropy K-U(eff)(t). The strength of these anisotropies is thickness dependent due to a volume and a surface contribution. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.