Magnetic properties of self-assembled nanostructure films on the base of amorphous Ni granules

We report on structural and magnetic properties of granular films consisting of 2.5nm Ni nanoparticles. The films are fabricated by the original laser electrodispersion technique, which allows producing nearly monodisperse and amorphous particles. Atomic force microscopy ( AFM) study shows that in 8 nm thickness films the particles are self-assembled in clusters with the lateral size 100-150nm and the height of about 8 nm. Performed by SQUID, the films magnetization measurements reveal superparamagnetic behaviour, characteristic for an ensemble of non-interacting single domain magnetic particulates. It is found that the magnetic moment of the particulate is equal to that of about 3000 individual Ni nanoparticles and the blocking temperature is close to room temperature. Defined from magnetic measurements, the size of single domain particulates correlates well with the size of the clusters determined from AFM images. We propose that exchange interaction plays an important role in the formation of the particulates by aligning the magnetic moments of the individual Ni nanoparticles inside the clusters. Presence of magnetic clusters with high blocking temperature makes the fabricated films potentially useful for high-density magnetic data storage applications. (c) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.