FMR and SMFMR investigation of epitaxial Fe/GaAs(001) thin films with Si and Ge overlayer

Abstract The magnetic anisotropy and magnetoelastic properties of epitaxial iron films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering on single crystal GaAs(0 0 1) substrate and covered with a protective Si or Ge layer have been investigated by means of the ferromagnetic resonance and strain-modulated ferromagnetic resonance. It has been shown that the uniaxial and cubic anisotropy constants as well as two magnetoelastic constants strongly depend on the thickness of the film. The surface components of the cubic anisotropy and magnetoelastic constants have been determined.