It was recalled that the growth of Fe on (100) Ge surfaces resulted in the intermixing of Ge with the Fe over-layer. A new technique was described here. This was the growth of Fe overlayers on S-passivated Ge(100), which successfully avoided the intermixing of Ge with the Fe over-layer. It was found that body-centered cubic (100) Fe grew epitaxially on this substrate; with the S floating out as an ordered over-layer. The S prevented intermixing by acting as a surfactant; thus holding the Fe on top of the substrate and preventing interdiffusion. The Fe overlayers were ferromagnetic, and exhibited sharp hysteresis loops with easy axes lying along the Fe[010] directions. A uniaxial in-plane anisotropy was observed, which resulted in the 2 easy axes being inequivalent.

G.W.Anderson, P.Ma, P.R.Norton: Journal of Applied Physics, 1996, 79[8], 5641-3