FMR study of the anisotropic properties of an epitaxial Fe$_3$Si film on a Si(111) vicinal surface

The anisotropic characteristics of an iron silicide (Fe$_3$Si) epitaxial thin magnetic film grown on a Si(111) silicon vicinal surface with a misorientation angle of 0.14$^\circ$ have been measured by the ferromagnetic resonance method. It has been shown that the polar and azimuth misorientation angles of the crystallographic plane of the substrate can be determined simultaneously from the angular dependences of the ferromagnetic resonance field of the epitaxial film. The effective saturation magnetization of the film $M_{\text{eff}}=1105\,$G and the constant of the cubic magnetocrystalline anisotropy $K_4=1.15\cdot10^5$ erg/cm$^3$ have been determined. The misorientation of the substrate plane leads to the formation of steps on the film surface and, as a result, to the appearance of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of the magnetic dipole nature with the constant $K_2=796$ erg/cm$^3$. Small unidirectional magnetic anisotropy ($K_1=163$ erg/cm$^3$), which may be associated with symmetry breaking on the steps of the film and is due to the Dzyaloshinskii–Moriya interaction, has been detected.