Surface order dependent magnetic thin film growth: Fe on GaN(0 0 0 1)

X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and X-ray magnetic circular dichroism have been used to study the growth process, chemical composition and magnetic character of iron deposited on ordered and disordered GaN(0 0 0 1) surfaces. On the (1 × 1) ordered surface the Fe grows uniformly but with disruption to the substrate surface, subsequently nitrogen desorbs from the surface, some of which diffuses into the Fe overlayer. The film is magnetically fractured, with high magnetic coercivity and broad switching fields. Conversely, the gallium rich disordered surface protects the underlying substrate from any disruption and initially induces non-uniform growth, the Fe clusters coalesce at ∼12 Å, to produce a uniform film with desirable magnetic characteristics. Films beyond this point (>12 Å) indicate sharp hysteresis loops with low coercivities. For the resultant film (36 Å) we measure a magnetic moment of 2.02 μB, in agreement with bulk bcc iron (2.068 μB.)