Epitaxial growth and characterization of Fe thin films on wurtzite GaN(0Â 0Â 0Â 1)

Fe films of different thicknesses were deposited on wurtzite GaN(0 0 0 1) layers by electron beam evaporation. They were studied by a number of characterization techniques such as low-energy electron diffraction (LEED), X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR). Despite the large lattice mismatch between Fe and wurtzite GaN a clear epitaxial relation was determined. Three distinct Fe domain orientations were found rotated by 120∘ relative to each other. Due to the formation of crystalline domains a hexagonal in-plane magnetic anisotropy was observed.