On the fabrication of stacked monolayers of Fe/Cu on Cu(100) by pulsed laser deposition

We report on the artificial fabrication of stacked monolayers of Fe/Cu on Cu(100) by pulsed laser deposition at 300 K employing reflection high energy electron diffraction (RHEED). In contrast to the thermally deposited films, an improved two dimensional growth of the Fe and Cu layers has been achieved by virtue of the dynamics of the pulsed laser deposition technique. The observed RHEED oscillations for each Fe and Cu layer and their growth mode as studied by scanning tunnelling microscopy indicate layer-by-layer growth. The magnetic properties studied by magneto-optical Ken effect measurements show that the easy axis of magnetization is in plane with no specific anisotropy observed in the plane. Ferromagnetic response was absent for thicknesses less than 2 ML in total within the measured temperature range down to 100 K. The Curie temperature increases from 225 K for a trilayer Fe/Cu/Fe to 400 K for a total layer thickness of 10 ML. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.