Growth and magnetic properties of epitaxial ultrathin Ni films on Cu(111) using Sb as a surfactant

We studied the growth and magnetism of ultrathin Ni films on the (111) surface of Cu using Sb as a surfactant. For this purpose we deposited Sb under UHV conditions at room temperature onto the Cu surface prior to the Ni film growth. When the Sb precoverage exceeded a certain threshold [0.7 monolayers (ML)], pronounced intensity oscillations of the medium energy electron diffraction signal indicated a layer-by-layer growth of the deposited Ni films. Low energy electron diffraction patterns of the Ni films revealed a hexagonal structure with a threefold symmetry. Using this approach we prepared high quality epitaxial Ni(111) films up to a thickness of 20 ML and performed in situ magneto-optical Kerr measurements. At a thickness of 7–8 ML an inverse spin reorientation transition occurs from an in-plane magnetization at lower thicknesses to an out-of-plane orientation for higher thicknesses.