Growth and magnetic properties of ultrathin single crystal Fe3O4 film on InAs(100)

Different thickness of ultrathin films of magnetite (Fe3O4) have been grown epitaxially on zinc‐blende narrow band‐gap semiconductor InAs(100) surfaces by in situ post‐growth annealing of ultrathin epitaxial Fe films at 300 °C in an oxygen partial pressure of 5 × 10−5 mbar. Reflection high‐energy electron‐diffraction patterns show that the epitaxial Fe3O4 films have been rotated by 45° in‐plane to match the InAs substrates. The magnetic hysteresis loops obtained by magneto‐optic Kerr effect (MOKE) shows a in‐plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for the ultrathin films, and the global easy axis is rotated from the uniaxial easy [011] direction to the cubic easy [010] direction when the thickness of the film increases.