Epitaxial growth and characterization of Fe3O4 on Ru underlayer

The magnetic and transport properties of magnetite (Fe3O4) thin films grown epitaxially with a Ru underlayer on single crystal MgO (110) have been investigated. Epitaxial growth has been confirmed by x-ray diffraction (XRD). It has been shown that addition of a Ru underlayer affects in-plane magnetic anisotropy: Fe3O4 grown directly on MgO exhibits an in-plane anisotropy, while Fe3O4 grown on MgO/Ru does not. XRD results show that presence of Ru underlayer reduces tensile stress in the Fe3O4 film. This difference in the stress explains the difference in the anisotropy of the Fe3O4 films. Resistivity of the Fe3O4 films with and without Ru underlayer both increases at low temperatures, but no clear Verway transition at 120 K was observed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.