Ion-beam-induced magnetic texturing of thin nickel films

The texturing of thin metallic and ceramic films caused by heavy-ion implan tation is a common observation, but still lacks quantitative explanations. Magnetic texturing effects of polycrystalline Fe-films irradiated with Xe i ons have recently been reported. In this paper, we present results of simil ar experiments for 18-400 nm thick polycrystalline Ni-films on Si (1 0 0) s ubstrates after irradiating them with 2 x 10(14)-1 x 10(16) Xe+-ions/cm(2) at 77 K and at ion energies of 6-450 keV, in the presence of a small magnet ic field of the order of 1 G, The magnetization was measured by means of th e magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE), as function of several parameters suc h as fluence, energy and spot size of the ion beam, thickness and shape of the Ni film and the thermal annealing procedures after irradiation. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.