Growth and magnetism of self-organized arrays of Fe(1 1 0) wires formed by deposition on kinetically grooved W(1 1 0)

Homoepitaxy of W(1 1 0) and Mo(1 1 0) is performed in a kinetically-limited regime to yield a nanotemplate in the form of a uniaxial array of hills and grooves aligned along the [0 0 1] direction. The topography and organization of the grooves were studied with RHEED and STM. The nanofacets, of type {2 1 0}, are tilted ∼18° away from (1 1 0). The lateral period could be varied from 4 to 12 nm by tuning the deposition temperature. Magnetic nanowires were formed in the grooves by deposition of Fe at 150 °C on such templates. Fe/W wires display an easy axis along [0 0 1] and a mean blocking temperature TB ≈ 100 K.