Structural and magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial Fe films on GaAs(001) and related semiconductor substrates

This article presents a review of the structural and magnetic properties of ultrathin epitaxial Fe films on GaAs( 001) and related semiconductor substrates. Interest in these systems and Fe/GaAs( 001) in particular has increased significantly over the last two decades, largely due to the emergence of the field of magnetoelectronics. Since then numerous studies of molecular beam epitaxy of Fe on GaAs( 001) have been carried out, making it by far the best researched Fe/semiconductor( 001) system. Issues such as magnetic anisotropy in the ultrathin regime, however, remain controversial with contradictory reports in the literature giving rise to considerable controversy within the field. By carefully scrutinizing the enormous amount of literature published on Fe/GaAs( 001) so far and analysing these results within the wider context of Fe/semiconductor( 001) systems, this article tries to settle some of these controversial issues, hence providing a long overdue 'common denominator' for research in this area.