Thickness Dependent Magnetic Properties of Polycrystalline Nickel Thin Films

Magnetization directions of ferromagnetic ultra-thin films can be altered by increasing the thickness. The transition between in-plane and out-of-plane axes is induced by the competition among the magnetostatic, magnetocrystalline and magnetoelastic anisotropy energies. Such an effect has attracted more interest recently, due to the applications in magneto-optical recording technologies. In this study, we have investigated by magneto-optical Kerr effect the magnetization properties of magnetron sputtered nickel thin films.