Magnetic properties of Au/Co/Au films grown on vicinal Si(111) substrates

In this paper, we compare the magnetic properties of Au/Co/Au thin films grown by molecular bern epitaxy (MBE) on 4°-miscut Si(111) with those of Au/Co/Au thin films grown by MBE on non-miscut Si(111). The hysteresis curves measured using the magneto-optic Kerr effect showed strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropies (PMA) for both films. However, the spin wave frequencies measured using Brillouin light scattering showed that only those on non-miscut Si had a PMA, with those on 4°-miscut Si revealing the unusual spin wave frequency behavior. We speculate that Co deposited on 4°-miscut Si(111) has multiple domains, one domain having PMA and the others without PMA, which could be due to the high step density of vicinal Si(111) substrates.