Fabrication and magnetic behaviour of 2D ordered Fe/SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanodots array

We have demonstrated a simple and universal morphology-controlled growth of 2D ordered Fe/SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> magnetic nanodots array, which was based on 2D colloidal monolayer template composed of polystyrene (PS) spheres and one-step sol-gel spin-coating technique. The Fe/SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanodots have a well-ordered structure arranged in a hexagonal pattern. The dots have the shape of quasi-pyramidal tetrahedron, which reside in the interstitial region between three PS spheres and the substrate. Magnetic measurements reveal that the nanodots array exhibits the in-plane easy magnetization direction. Compared with the unpatterned Fe/SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> thin film, the dots array has lower saturated field, higher remanence and coercivity. The present method is applicable to 2D ordered nanodots array of other magnetic materials. Copyright EDP Sciences/Società Italiana di Fisica/Springer-Verlag 2006