Thickness-dependent coercivity of ultrathin Co films on a rough substrate: Cu-buffered Si(111)

The hysteresis loops, of Co films with thicknesses ranging from 12- to 80-monolayer-equivalent (MLE) coverages grown by thermal evaporation on a Cu-covered Si(111) surface, were measured in situ by the surface magneto-optic Kerr effect (SMOKE) technique. The hysteresis loops were measured as a function of Co coverage under an external sinusoidal magnetic field at fixed driving frequency. The coercivity H_c of the Co film versus thickness t followed a power law t^?n with n=0.4±0.1 between 12 and 44 MLE, and stabilized after 44 MLE, up to the 80 MLE studied. The surface morphology of the 80-MLE Co film was imaged ex situ by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), revealing cauliflower-like islands that were rough both in the short and long range. Analysis of the height–height correlation function for the largest image gave measurements of the effective roughness exponent (0.8), the vertical interface width w(2500 Å), and the lateral correlation length ξ(10 000 Å). We suggest that the coercivity changed in part due to changes in roughness of the Co films, deposited on a rough substrate; the spatial roughness would create an additional surface anisotropy, contributing to a fluctuation in the domain wall energy, resulting in a roughness-dependent coercivity.