Swelling process induced by Focused Ion Beam on magnetic layers

The ability to prepare ordered arrays of micro/nano sized magnetic elements offers the chance to investigate magnetic properties at length scales previously inaccessible. Bi-dimensional ordered array of magnetic dots can be obtained through a number of different techniques. Patterning of extended magnetic layers or multilayers by Focused Ion Beam (FIB) is one of the most powerful approaches for nano-structuration on a large variety of materials due to the high spatial resolution, good process control and elevated flexibility. This enables a very high accuracy to be achieved in the refinement (shape, sharpness, orientation and dimension) of each individual element and of the separation between the elements. On the other hand ion interactions with solids produce several damage effects. These effects can be very severe in the case of crystalline solids and of nano-sized elements, and can influence magnetic properties of the systems (magneto-crystalline and configurational anisotropy). We studied by AFM and Depth Profile Auger analysis the ions effect on a submicron scale dots array obtained on a 10nm Fe/10nm NiO/MgO(001) multilayer capped with 10nm of MgO. Ion-induced local damage leads to a significant swelling effect on the nano-structures [1]. Our measurements suggest that swelling observed on the multilayer originates from substrate ion irradiation. Transmission Electron Microscopy and diffraction technique measurements should give structural information and clarify the relations between ion induced damage and swelling effect. [1] G. C. Gazzadi, P. Luches, S. F. Contri, A. di Bona, S. Valeri, Nucl. Instr. Meth. B 230 (2005) 512.