Dp. Pappas, TEMPERATURE-DEPENDENT MAGNETIC SURFACE ANISOTROPY IN ULTRATHIN FE FILMS, Journal of vacuum science & technology. B, Microelectronics and nanometer structures processing, measurement and phenomena, 14(4), 1996, pp. 3203-3206
The temperature dependence of the uniaxial surface anisotropy, K-u(T),
in ultrathin Fe films (4-10 atomic layers) grown on Cu(100) is determ
ined by comparing the dipole and anisotropy energies at the spin reori
entation temperature for films of varying thickness. It is observed th
at the uniaxial anisotropy has a weak temperature dependence compared
to the bulk constants for Fe. The measured exponent of Gamma(u) = 2.6(
0.5) agrees well with the l(l + 1)/2 law, which is obtained from a spi
n fluctuation model where l = 2 at the surface. This shows that the sp
in reorientation transition can be understood as being driven by therm
al spin fluctuations. (C) 1996 American Vacuum Society.