Magnetization in Ni and Ni-Fe thin films

Nickel films have been deposited in conventional high vacuum, ultra-high vacuum, and in controlled contaminant, ultra-high vacuum environments. High field saturation magnetization Msmeasurements on the films made in high vacuum and an oxygen-contaminated ultra-high vacuum system show that they posses low values of Msfor film thicknesses of 1000 Å. The normal moments observed for ultra-high vacuum deposited films lead to the conclusion that the low Msvalues are associated with the oxygen and are caused by a true loss of effective magnetization rather than coupled superparamagnetism or a ripple blocking field. Supplementary torque and ferromagnetic resonance studies on the Ni and two different Ni-Fe compositions also show that the grain boundary perpendicular anisotropy models are not particularly relevant for films made under such nominal technical vacuum conditions.