Influence of the growth conditions on the magnetism of SrFe12O19thin films and the behavior of Co/SrFe12O19bilayers

Abstract

SrFe12O19(SFO) films grown on Si (100) substrates by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering have been characterized in terms of composition, structural and magnetic properties by a combination of microscopy, diffraction and spectroscopy techniques. Mossbauer spectroscopy was used to determine the orientation of the films magnetization, which was found to be controlled by both the sputtering power and the thickness of the films. Additionally, the coupling between the SFO films and a deposited cobalt overlayer was studied by means of synchrotron-based spectromicroscopy techniques. A structural coupling at the SFO/Co interface is suggested to account for the expetimental observations. Micromagnetic simulations were performed in order to reproduce the experimental behaviour of the system.