High crystalline quality Mn${}_5$Ge${}_3$ films with thicknesses ranging 4–200 nm have been grown on Ge(111) substrates by solid phase epitaxy. The basal hexagonal plane of Mn${}_5$Ge${}_3$ is in epitaxy with the Ge(111) plane. Magnetic properties of the films have been investigated as a function of the film thickness and the magnetization curves have been analyzed using a theory that includes a description of magnetic domains in uniaxial thin films. The results clearly indicate the existence of a critical thickness below which the magnetic stripe phase disappears. We have determined the value of this thickness to lie between 10 and 25 nm from the analysis of experimental magnetization curves and the theoretical fit of the in-plane remanent magnetization. Although analogies can be drawn between the behavior observed in our system and that of hcp Co, we have shown that the critical thickness is considerably smaller in Mn${}_5$Ge${}_3$; this has the potential to open new fields of applications for Mn${}_5$Ge${}_3$ thin films in magnetic recording and spintronics.

• Received 12 January 2012

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.035211