XXXII. Magnetic behaviour of thin single-crystal nickel films

Summary The coercivity of monocrystalline films of nickel, grown epitaxially on the (100) face of rocksalt, has been studied as a function of thickness over the range 200Å to 1000 Å. Films grown in this way do not exhibit the granularity characteristic of films deposited on cold, inactive substrates; electron micrographs show continuity over distances of the order several microns. The behaviour of such a film is expected to be simpler than that of a polycrystalline film, in which the magnetic properties depend on crystallite boundaries, crystallite size distribution, orientation, etc. Spontaneous magnetization of the films is observed, with the magnetization vector in the plane of the film. The high coercivity characteristic of a single domain structure is observed and the maximum value agrees roughly with that calculated from the anisotropy constants. As is expected, the behaviour of monoerystalline films differs markedly from that of polycrystalline specimens.