Magnetization of (100) Cr/Fe/Cr and Pd/Fe/Pd structures

(100) oriented Cr/Fe/Cr and Pd/Fe/Pd sandwich structures have been deposited on (100) Si using the epitaxially grown (100) Pd/Cu and (100) Cu, respectively, as the seed, in a vacuum of low 10-1Torr. Four structures each are compared, with a Fe thickness of 25, 50, 100, and 500 A, keeping the Cr and Pd layers at 1000 A. No reversal in anisotropy is observed between the in-plane and normal-to-plane magnetization over the entire Fe thickness range studied. The in-plane epitaxial relation determined among the metals allows a study of the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of Fe in these structures also. Both the Cr/Fe/Cr and Pd/Fe/Pd structures show an easier magnetization at low field along the [ 100] edge than the [ 110] one, with the Cr/Fe/Cr structures being more pronounced. Magnetizations along these two edges approach each other at higher field. These are the same as that of bulk Fe crystal. The possible lattice deformation of the Fe layers in these structures is also explored. © 1991, American Vacuum Society. All rights reserved.