Ein großes Hindernis für die Anwendbarkeit von oxidischen Perowskiten in elektrotechnischen oder spintronischen Applikationen, ist die Größe der spezifischen Temperaturen, bei der die physikalischen Phänomene, wie Ferromagnetismus oder Hochtemperatur-Supraleitung, beobachtet werden können. Die physikalischen Eigenschaften der Perowskite zeigen eine Abhängigkeit von der Ordnung der verschiedenartigen Metallionen in mehrkomponentigen Systemen. Die Abhängigkeit ergibt sich durch den Einfluss der Metallionen auf die Elektronenkonfiguration und elastischen Verspannung innerhalb des Materials. Man spricht in diesem Zusammenhang auch von der Kontrolle der Füllung und der Bandbreite der elektronischen Bänder im Material durch die Wahl der Metallionen. Die Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit ist die Präparation und Charakterisierung von künstlich A-Platz geordneten schmal- und breitbandigen Manganat Dünnfilmen als auch von natürlich B-Platz geordneten ferro-/ferrimagnetischen doppelperowskitischen Dünnfilmen. Für die Präparation der dünnen Schichten wurde die unkonventionelle Metallorganischen Aerosol Deposition (MAD) verwendet. Es konnte gezeigt werden, dass diverse künstlich oder natürlich Kationengeordnete Perowskite mit der MAD Technologie präpariert werden können. Die lagenweise A-Platz Ordnung in Manganaten führt, über die Modulation der Gitterverspannung und der Elektronenbesetzung im eg-Band der Manganionen, zu modifizierten elektronischen und magnetischen Eigenschaften. In schmalbandigen CMR Manganaten wurde die PS und somit der CMR über die Ordnung beeinflusst, während in breitbandigen CMR Manganaten ein Weg aufgezeigt werden konnte, der zu Übergangstemperaturen TC > 370K führen kann. In geordneten, ferromagnetischen Doppelperowskiten wurde der Einfluss und die Anwesenheit von Antiphasen-Grenzen dargelegt. Über die Einführung einer aktiven Valenz-Kontrolle, konnte die Präparation von halbmetallischen, ferrimagnetischen Doppelperowskiten mit der MAD Technologie ermöglicht werden.

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Komplexe Oxide weisen interessante, funktionelle Eigenschaften wie Ferroelektrizität, magnetische Ordnung, hohe Spinpolarisation der Ladungsträger, Multiferroizität und Hochtemperatursupraleitung auf. Diese große Vielfalt sowie die Realisierbarkeit des epitaktischen Wachstums von Heterostrukturen aus verschiedenen oxidischen Komplexverbindungen eröffnen zahlreiche technologische Anwendungsmöglichkeiten für die oxidbasierte Mikroelektronik. Der Schwerpunkt der vorliegenden Arbeit liegt auf der Untersuchung der Charakteristik des Ladungstransportes und insbesondere des Einflusses photogenerierter Ladungsträger auf diesen. Hierzu wurden die zwei vielversprechenden und momentan rege erforschten oxidischen Systeme La0,7Ce0,3MnO3 (LCeMO) und LiNbO3 (LNO) untersucht. Der erste Teil der vorliegenden Arbeit widmet sich der Untersuchung des photoinduzierten Ladungstransports in auf SrTiO3-Substrat gewachsenen LCeMO-Dünnfilmen. LCeMO ist als elektronendotierter Gegenpart zu den wohlbekannten und lochdotierten Manganaten wie La0,7Ca0,3MnO3 von großem Interesse für Anwendungen in der Spintronik so z.B. im spinpolarisierten p-n-übergang. Der Einfluss der Sauerstoffstöchiometrie, der chemischen Phasensegregation der Cer-Dotanden und der photogenerierten Ladungsträger auf die Manganvalenz und damit die Elektronenkonzentration in den LCeMO-Dünnfilmen wurde mittels Röntgenphotoelektronenspektroskopie (XPS) untersucht. Hierbei wurde eine Erhöhung der Elektronenkonzentration durch Reduktion des Sauerstoffgehalts oder durch Beleuchtung mit UV-Licht festgestellt. Messungen der Temperaturabhängigkeit des Widerstands haben einen photoinduzierten Isolator-Metall-übergang in den reduzierten LCeMO-Dünnfilmen gezeigt. Durch Auswertung der magnetfeldbedingten Widerstandsänderungen im beleuchteten und unbeleuchteten Zustand konnte dieser Isolator-Metall-übergang eindeutig auf eine Parallelleitung durch das SrTiO3-Substrat zurückgeführt werden. Der zweite Teil dieser Arbeit befasst sich mit dem Ladungstransport in Einkristallen des uniaxialen Ferroelektrikums LNO. Durch Vergleich der Volumenleitfähigkeit in eindomänigem LNO mit der Leitfähigkeit durch mehrdomänige Kristalle mit zahlreichen geladenen Domänenwänden konnte sowohl im abgedunkelten als auch im beleuchteten Zustand eine im Vergleich zur Volumenleitfähigkeit um mehrere Größenordnungen höhere Domänenwandleitfähigkeit festgestellt werden. Dabei ist die Domänenwandleitfähigkeit unter Beleuchtung mit Photonenenergien größer als der Bandlücke deutlich höher als im abgedunkelten Zustand. / Complex oxides exhibit a variety of functional properties, such as ferroelectricity, magnetic ordering, high spin polarization of the charge carriers, multiferroicity and high-temperature superconductivity. This wide variety of functional properties of complex oxides combined with their structural compatibility facilitates epitaxial growth of oxide heterostructures with tailored functional properties for applications in oxide-based microelectronic devices. The focus of the present thesis lies on the characterization of the photoinduced charge transport in two intriguing complex oxides of current scientific interest, namely the electron doped mixed valence manganite La0,7Ce0,3MnO3 (LCeMO) and the ferroelectric LiNbO3 (LNO). The first part adresses the photoinduced charge transport in thin films of LCeMO grown on SrTiO3 substrates. LCeMO, being the electron doped counterpart to well known hole doped manganites like La0,7Ca0,3MnO3, is of current interest for spintronic applications like spin-polarized p-n-junctions. The influence of the oxygen stoichiometry, the chemical phase separation of cerium and of the photogenerated charge carriers on the manganese valence and hence the electron concentration in the LCeMO films were investigated with X-ray-photoelectron spectroscopy. This measurements revealed an increase in electron doping by reduction of the oxygen content or by illumination with UV-light. Measurements of the temperature dependence of the resistance of the reduced LCeMO films showed a photoinduced insulator-metal transition. Analysis of the magnetoresistive properties of the samples in the illuminated and dark state clearly revealed that this insulator-metal transition is caused by a parallel conduction through the SrTiO3 substrate. The second part of this thesis is dedicated to the charge transport in single crystals of the uniaxial ferroelectric LNO. A comparison of the bulk conductivity of single domain crystals with the conductivity of multidomain crystals with numerous charged domain walls revealed an several orders of magnitude higher domain wall conductivity as compared to the bulk conductivity. Such domain wall conductivity could be observed in the illuminated as well as in the dark state, although the domain wall conductivity was much higher for super-bandgap illumination.

Magnetic nanorings are the object of increasing scientific interest because they possess the vortex (stray field free) state which ensures lower magnetostatic interactions between adjacent ring elements in high packing density memory devices. In addition, they have other potential applications such as single magnetic nanoparticle sensors, microwave-frequency oscillators and data processing. The stabilization of magnetization state, types of domains and domain wall structures depends on the competing energies such as magnetostatic, exchange and anisotropy. The nucleation/ pinning of domain walls depends on the local inhomogeneity in shape such as roughness, notches etc, which play an important role in stabilizing domain configurations that can be controlled by magnetic field/spin polarized current etc. The information gained by the study of magnetization reversal in the nanoring devices could help in understanding the possible stable magnetization states, which can be incorporated into the development of magnetic logic and recording devices in a NR-based architecture. The magnetization reversal and the stable states in the symmetric cobalt nanorings (NRs) attached with nanowires (NWs) (at diametrically opposite points), is studied through magnetoresistance (MR) measurements by application of in-plane magnetic field (H). Here, a strong in-plane shape anisotropy is introduced in cobalt thin films by patterning them into NR and NWs. The presence or absence of a DW in the device is detected utilizing the AMR property of the material, where the presence of DW leads to a decrease in the resistance of the probed section of the device. It is demonstrated that the magnetization reversal of the device with smaller width, proceeds through four distinct magnetization states, one of these is the stabilized vortex state that persists over a field range of 0.730 kOe. The effect of width (from 70 nm to 1 µm) and diameter (from 2 µm to 6 µm) on the switching behavior is demonstrated. The magnetization states observed in the MR measurements are well supported by micromagnetic simulations. A statistical analysis of switching fields in these devices was demonstrated by histogram plot (of switching counts) to understand the repeatability and reproducibility of switching characteristics. In addition, the magnetization reversal of permalloy NR is also studied by MR experiment when two NWs are attached to it in two different configurations. It has been demonstrated that a vortex state can be stabilized if the NWs are attached in a way that they are at an obtuse angle with respect to each other (type-II device) which is not the case if the NWs are attached at diametrically opposite points (type-I device). This occurs because the NWs reverse at different fields as they are asymmetric with respect to applied magnetic field at every angle. The angular dependence study of the magnetization states indicates that the vortex state could be always stabilized in the type-II device irrespective of the direction of in-plane applied magnetic field while it is not the case in type-I device. The experimental observations are in good agreement with micromagnetic simulations performed on similar device structures. Further, in the last part of the thesis, the magnetization reversal of geometrically engineered cobalt NR (of width 80 nm) devices are studied by application of H. Two types of cobalt nanoring devices were fabricated. In type-1 devices the NR is attached with two nanowires (NWs) at diametrically opposite positions. In type-2 devices the NR is attached with one NW, whose other end is attached to a 5 µm x 5 µm square pad. In type-2 device, the pad reverses first, thus causing the generation of a DW at the junction of the nucleation pad and the NW. The device type-2 possesses five distinct magnetization states, one of these is the vortex state. Easy nucleation of domain walls (DWs) results in a decrease of switching field corresponding to the reversal of the nanowire. This leads to an increase in the range of fields, where the vortex state exists. In addition, angular dependence of the switching behavior indicates that the vortex state can be stabilized at all in-plane orientations of H. This occurs because of the fact that symmetry was broken due to the presence of single domain wall pinning center which was the junction of the NR and NW. The results of our micromagnetic simulations are in a good agreement with the experimental results. These results are important to understand the role of NWs which allows the formation of vortex state at every angle of the in-plane H. In type-1 device, the simulation shows that when the field is applied at any angle away from the axis of the NW, the vortex state cannot be stabilized. The width dependent study of switching fields indicates, that the switching fields decrease with increasing the width of NR devices due to a reduction of the demagnetization field.

Afin de concurrencer les mémoires à accès aléatoire de type DRAM actuellement sur le marché, les mémoires magnétiques ont depuis quelques années fait l'objet de nombreuses études afin de les rendre aussi performantes que possible. Dans ce contexte, les jonctions tunnel magnétiques à double barrière pourraient présenter des avantages significatifs en termes de vitesse de lecture et de consommation électrique. Nous avons en effet fait la démonstration que les structures à double barrière permettent, pour une configuration antiparallèle des aimantations des polariseurs, d'accroître les effets de transfert de spin assurant ainsi des courants d'écriture faibles. Dans la configuration parallèle des polariseurs, le phénomène est inversé et le couple par transfert de spin résultant est considérablement réduit. Cela permettrait de lire l'information plus rapidement en utilisant des tensions du même ordre de grandeurs que celles utilisées pour l'écriture. Nous avons par ailleurs proposé une méthode d'analyse permettant de caractériser les deux barrières tunnel par des mesures électriques en pleine plaque, ce qui facilite le développement des matériaux et atteste des propriétés électriques attendues avant nanofabrication. / Since a few years, magnetic memories have been extensively studied in order to compete with already existing Random Access Memories such as DRAM. In this context, double barrier magnetic tunnel junctions may have significant assets in terms of reading speed and electrical consumption. In fact, we demonstrated that spin transfer torque is enhanced when polarizers magnetizations are antiparallel, thus yielding a decrease of the writing current. On the contrary, when polarizers are parallel, spin transfer torque is drastically shrinked, thus allowing fast reading of the storage layer state at a voltage as large as the writing voltage. Moreover, we proposed an analysis method to characterize both tunnel barriers by full-sheet electrical measurements, leading to considerable gain of time in material developpement.

Parmi les architectures candidates pour les générations sub-22nm figurent les transistors sur silicium sur isolant (SOI). A cette échelle, les composants doivent intégrer des films isolants enterrés (BOX) et des canaux de conduction (Body) ultra-minces. A ceci s'ajoute l'utilisation d'empilements de grille avancés (diélectriques à haute permittivité / métal de grille) et une ingénierie de la contrainte mécanique avec l'utilisation d'alliages SiGe pour le canal des transistors de type P. La mise au point d'une telle technologie demande qu'on soit capable d'extraire de façon non destructive et avec précision la qualité du transport électronique et des interfaces, ainsi que les valeurs des paramètres physiques (dimensions et dopages), qui sont obtenues effectivement en fin de fabrication. Des techniques d'extraction de paramètres ont été développées au cours du temps. L'objectif de cette thèse est de reconsidérer et de faire évoluer ces techniques pour les adapter aux épaisseurs extrêmement réduites des composants étudiés. Elle combine mesures approfondies et modélisation en support. Parmi les résultats originaux obtenus au cours de cette thèse, citons notamment l'adaptation de la méthode split CV complète qui permet désormais d'extraire les paramètres caractérisant l'ensemble de l'empilement SOI, depuis le substrat et son dopage jusqu'à la grille, ainsi qu'une analyse extrêmement détaillée du transport grâce à des mesures en régime de couplage grille arrière à température variable ou l'exploitation de la magnétorésistance de canal depuis le régime linéaire jusqu'en saturation. Le mémoire se termine par une analyse détaillée du bruit basse fréquence. / Silicon on insulator (SOI) transistors are among the best candidates for sub-22nm technology nodes. At this scale, the devices integrate extremely thin buried oxide layers (BOX) and body. They also integrate advanced high-k dielectric / metal gate stacks and strain engineering is used to improve transport properties with, for instance, the use of SiGe alloys in the channel of p-type MOS transistors. The optimization of such a technology requires precise and non-destructive experimental techniques able to provide information about the quality of electron transport and interface quality, as well as about the real values of physical parameters (dimensions and doping level) at the end of the process. Techniques for parameter extraction from electrical characteristics have been developed over time. The aim of this thesis work is to reconsider these methods and to further develop them to account for the extremely small dimensions used for sub-22nm SOI generations. The work is based on extended characterization and modelling in support. Among the original results obtained during this thesis, special notice should be put on the adaptation of the complete split CV method which is now able to extract the characteristic parameters for the entire stack, from the substrate and its doping level to the gate stack, as well as an extremely detailed analysis of electron transport based on low temperature characterization in back-gate electrostatic coupling conditions or the exploitation of channel magnetoresistance from the linear regime of operation to saturation. Finally, a detailed analysis of low-frequency noise closes this study.

Les travaux exposés dans cet ouvrage décrivent la synthèse, la caractérisation microstructurale et les propriétés physiques de solutions solides nanolamellaires des phases MAX. Les phases Mn+1AXn (M : métal de transition, A : un métal des groupes IlIA ou IV A, et X: carbone ou azote) constituent une famille de nitrures et de carbures ternaires (n = 1 à 3), qui possèdent les meilleures propriétés des métaux et les meilleures propriétés des céramiques.Lors d'une première étape, nous nous concentrons sur la synthèse de solutions solides pures et denses de Ti2AICxNy par compression isostatique à chaud. Les variations des paramètres de maille sont étudiée et discutée an fonction du taux de substitution (carbone-azote) et du taux de lacune (sur le site X). Lors d'une seconde étape, nous étudions les propriétés mécaniques et les propriétés de transport électronique des solutions solides Ti2AICxNy et des phases Ti2AICx et Ti2AINy. La technique de nanoindentation pour déterminer la dureté et le module élastique en fonction du taux de substitution et de lacune. Nous démontrons que la substitution conduit à une amélioration des propriétés mécaniques tandis que l'introduction de lacune conduit à une détérioration de ces propriétés. La résistivité électrique augmente lorsque des lacunes et/ou un effet de substitution sont introduits. Dans le cas de la substitution, nous démontrons que le désordre introduit est faible et que seule la diminution du temps de relaxation explique l'augmentation de la résistivité (interaction électron-phonons). Dans le cas de l'introduction de lacunes, nous montrons que ces dernières conduisent à une modification du temps de relaxation et probablement à une modification de la densité de porteurs.Enfin, l'anisotropie des propriétés de transport électronique a été mise en évidence par des mesures de résistivité réalisée avec le courant électrique circulant dans le plan de base et avec le courant électrique circulant selon l'axe c. Nous démontrons les propriétés de transport dans le plan de base peuvent être comprises en utilisant un modèle à une bande et un mécanisme de conduction assuré par des électrons ayant le comportement de trous. / The work discussed in this thesis concerns the synthesis, the microstructural characterization and the physical properties of nanolaminated MAX phase's solid solution. The Mn+1AXn phases (M: transition metal, A: IlIA or IV A group element, and X: either carbon or nitrogen) are a class of ternary nitrides and carbides (n=l to 3), which possess sorne of the best properties ofmetal and sorne of the best properties of ceramics.In a first step, we focus on the synthesis of highly pure and dense Ti2AICxNy solid solutions by hot isostatic pressing. The influence of the substitution of C atoms by N atoms and the influence of vacancy content on the solid solution lattice parameters is discussed. In a second step, we investigate the mechanical and transport properties of Ti2AICxNy solid solutions and oftheir related Ti2AICx and Ti2AINy end-members. Hardness and elastic modulus has been studied using nanoindentation tests. It is demonstrated that sol id solution effect leads to a hardening effect whereas the presence vacancy leads to a softening effect. The electrical resistivity is shown to increase with vacancy content and substitution rate. Such an effect is discussed in terms of disorder and relaxation time variation. Finally, the anisotropic transport properties of MAX phases is studied and discussed. The anisotropy of transport properties has been evidenced by direct measurement of the resistivity along the basal plane and along the c-axis. It is demonstrated that transport property in the basal plane can be understood in the framework of a single band model with hole-like states as charge carrier.

Asymmetrically sandwiched ferromagnetic thin films display a large number of spin-orbit effects, including the Dzyaloschinsii-Moriya interaction (DMI), spin-orbit torques (SOT) and magnetoresistance (MR) effects. Their concurrence promises the implementation of interesting magnetic structures like skyrmions in future memory and logic devices. The complex interplay of various effects originating from the spin-orbit coupling and their dependencies on the microstructural details of the material system mandates a holistic characterization of its properties. In this PhD thesis, a comprehensive study of the spin-orbit effects in a chromium oxide/cobalt/platinum trilayer sample series is presented. The determination of the complete micromagnetic parameter set is based on a developed measurement routine that utilizes quasistatic methods. The unambiguous quantification of all relevant constants is crucial for the modeling of the details of magnetic structures in the system. In this context the necessity of a strict distinction of magnetic objects, that are stabilized by magnetostatics or the DMI, was revealed. Furthermore, a sample layout was developed to allow for the simultaneous quantification of the magnitudes of SOTs and MR effects from nonlinear magnetotransport measurements. In conjunction with a structural characterization, the dominating dependence of the effect magnitudes on microstructural details of the systems is concluded. Precisely characterized systems establish a solid groundwork for further investigations that are needed for viable skyrmion-based devices.

The main focus of this thesis work has been the study of domain wall (DW) dynamics in disordered cylindrical nanomagnets. The study attempts to accurately quantify the stochasticity associated with driven (temperature/magnetic field/spin-torque) DW kinetics. Our results as summarized below, are particularly relevant with regard to the technological advancement of DW based magnetoelectronic devices. 1. Temperature dependent noise measurements showed an exponential increase in noise mag-nitude, which was explained in terms of thermally activated DW depinning within the Neel-Brown framework. The frequency-dependence of noise also indicated a crossover from nondiffusive kinetics to long-range diffusion of DWs at higher temperatures. We also observed strong collective depinning, which must be considered when implementing these nanowires in magnetoelectronic devices. 2. Our noise measurements were sensitive enough to detect not only the stochasticity in DW propagation (diffusive random walk) but also their nucleation in the presence of magnetic field down to a single DW unit inside an isolated single Ni nanowire. Controlled injection and detection of individual DWs is critical in designing DW based memory devices. 3. The spectral slope of noise was observed to be sensitive to DWkinetics that reveals a creep-like behavior of the DWs at the depinning threshold, and diffusive DW motion at higher spin torque drive. Different regimes of DW kinetics were characterized by universal kinetic exponents. Noise measurements also revealed that the critical current density and DW pinning energy can be significantly reduced in a magnetically coupled vertical ensemble of nanowires. This was attributed to strong dipolar interaction between the nanowires. Our results are particularly important in view of recent proposals for low power consumption magnetic storage devices that rely on DW motion. In all our experiments, the critical magnetic field/current density, required to set the DWs in duffusive kinetics, were found to be much smaller than the reported values for nanostrips. This could be attributed to the circular cross section of nanowires, where massless DWs results in the absence of Walker breakdown and hence in zero critical current density. At present the contribution from the non-adiabaticity, which acts as an effective field and can reduce the crit- ical current density, can not be denied. The main di±culty in quantifying the non-adiabatic spin-torque is that not only does it contain contributions due to non-adiabatic transport but also due to spin-relaxation provided by magnetic impurities or the sources for spin-orbit scattering. Fortunately, in cylindrical nanomagnet, non-adiabaticity does not affect the DW motion. There- fore, cylindrical NWs may be promising candidate for future magnetic storage devices. However, a systematic experimental study of DW dynamics in cylindrical nanomagnets is lacking. In chapter 7, silver nanowires (AgNWs) are shown to be stabilized in fcc or hcp crystal structure, depending on the electrochemical growth conditions. The AgNWs stabilized in hcp crystal structure are shown to exhibit exotic structural properties i.e. ultra low noise level, thermally driven unconventional structural phase transformation, and time dependent structural relaxation. Ultra noise level makes hcp AgNWs suitable for application in nanoelectronics and the structural transformation may be exploited for use in smart materials. Though time resolved transmission electron microscopy and noise measurements provide some understanding of the hcp AgNWs formation, the precise growth mechanism is still not clear. Future scope of the work The results in this thesis provide the groundwork for a good understanding of stochastic DW kinetics in isolated as well as ensemble of magnetic nanocylinders. Some extensions to this work that would help expand and strengthen the results, are listed below; 1. In all the nanocylinders used for our experiments the source of stochasticity in DWkinetics were randomly distributed structural defects. For a controlled injection and detection of DWs between the voltage probes, it would be of great importance to fabricate artificial notches (pinning centers) in the NW. These notches can be fabricated either by using nano-indentation or by a focussed ion beam. 2. To investigate whether DWs in different parts of the nanowire exhibit spatio-temporal correlation, a simultaneous detection of DWkinetics (through noise measurement) between different volage probes needs to be done. If the propagation time of DWs scales with the distance between the voltage probes, we can be confident of our velocity measurement. Then, by recording the DWvelocity as function of eld/current for nanowire (or nanostrip) absence (or presence) of the Walker breakdown can be probed. This would be a significant result for future spintronic devices. With an accurate determination of velocity even non- adiabaticity parameter may be calculated and one can see its effect on DW dynamics. 3. A complete understanding of sustained avalanches at finite magnetic fields, characterized by a high spectral exponent (a>¸ 2:5) in an ensemble of nanowires is still lacking. Per- forming a controlled experiment on a single nanowire, by varying the number of nanowires in the alumina matrix, one can study the chaotic dynamics of DWs in the ensemble in very accurate manner. All the experiments on AgNWs were performed on ensembles. The large change in a as well as noise magnitude in hcp AgNWs could arise from stress relaxation due to the presence of an insulating matrix or structural relaxation, determined by the nanowire growth kinetics. To resolve this issue, time and temperature dependent noise measurements should be performed on single nanowire stabilized in both hcp and fcc crystal structure.

Physical systems having dimensions smaller than, or of the same order of magnitude as, the characteristic length scale relevant to a physical property are referred to as mesoscopic physical systems. Due to the dimensions of the system, several physical properties get affected and this could reveal interesting physics which would other-wise have not been apparent. In the recent times, a lot interesting applications have resulted from such studies. The fundamental length scale in ferromagnetic systems is the exchange length. It is related to the magnetic anisotropy and exchange constants. Other length scales such as the size of a magnetic domain or a domain wall depends on the minimisation of energy associated with this length scale along with other factors such as zeeman energy, magnetostatic, magnetoelastic and anisotropy energies. Ultrathin magnetic films have thickness smaller than the exchange length. In this thickness regime, the surface of the film plays an important role. The magnetic anisotropy energy would get a significant contribution from the surface of the film and if it dominates over the volume contribution, would eventually lead to magnetisation pointing out of the plane of the film as opposed to imposition of demagnetising fields. Examples for such cases are FePt(L10 phase) films and Co(0001) films. Such films are important in memory applications where perpendicularly magnetised recording media are desired. When the lateral dimensions of thin films are reduced, demagnetising fields become even more important. Depending on the anisotropy in the system, certain domain patterns get stabilised in the final structure. This has led to important applications in the field of magnonics. The use of angular momentum transfer from spin polarised electrons to change the configuration of magnetisation of structured magnetic films has led to interesting memory and oscillator applications. The underlying physical parameter that needs to be controlled and carefully studied in all these cases is the magnetic anisotropy. It is favourable to have uniaxial magnetic anisotropy for memory and oscillators. This thesis chiefly deals with Fe/GaAs(001) systems. The choice of the physical system follows interest in spintronics where spin injection is desired into a semiconductor from a ferromagnet. The thesis is organized into chapters as follows. Chapter 1 attempts to introduce the reader to some of the basic concepts of mag-netism and some magnetic phenomena. The characteristic nature of a ferro-magnetic material is its spontaneous magnetisation due to long range ordering below the Curie temperature. But the moment is coupled, through some in-teractions, to spatial co-ordinates which leads to spatial variation of magnetic properties. Such interactions are also responsible for the formation of magnetic domains. The spatial variation of magnetic properties within a ferromagnet is called magnetic anisotropy. A major part of the thesis deals with the study of magnetic anisotropy of Fe thin films grown on GaAs(001) substrates. For a better understanding, the structure of the semiconductor is introduced first before discussing the influence of the structure of GaAs on the growth of Fe. A short description of the uniaxial magnetic anisotropy in Fe films is given before starting on an exploration of some possible reasons for it. Concepts of ferromagnetic resonance, spin torque effect and micromagnetic simulations are given. Chapter 2 gives a brief description of some of the experimental apparatus that was setup during the course of the research along with an overview of the differ-ent sample preparation and characterisation techniques used. The chapter is organised according to the general functionality of the techniques. Some con-cepts such as the use of low energy electrons, nanostructuring etc are introduced along with the corresponding techniques since it is best understood along with the instrumentation. Chapter 3 reports some surprising findings about the in-plane magnetic anisotropy in Fe films grown on an MgO underlayer. Until now, it has been understood that such films should exhibit only a four-fold magnetic anisotropy within the plane of the film. But the Fe/MgO/GaAs(001) films studied here exhibited an in-plane uniaxial magnetic anisotropy(IPUMA). IPUMA is dominant upto about 25 ML of Fe in case of Fe/MgO/GaAs(001) films whereas, in Fe/GaAs(001) films it is dominant only upto about 15 ML. Thus, the presence of the MgO film even appeared to enhance the uniaxial anisotropy as compared to the Fe/GaAs(001) films. In the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) spectra, as many as three peaks were observed in Fe/GaAs(001) films of thickness 50 ML close to the hard axis of magnetisation. This means that three could be three energy minima possibly due to a competition between the anisotropies involved. Chapter 4 elaborates the investigations of the effect of orientation and doping con-centration of the GaAs substrate on the magnetic anisotropy of Fe/GaAs(001) films. It is found that doping the substrate (n type) reduces the strength of the IPUMA in Fe/GaAs films. In the wake of the long-standing debate of electronic structure v/s stress as the origin of the IPUMA in Ferromagnet/Semiconductor films, this result is important because it implies that the electronic structure of the Fe/GaAs interface influences the magnetic anisotropy. But stress, as a cause of IPUMA cannot be ruled out. The influence of deposition techniques on magnetic anisotropy is also investigated. Chapter 5 presents a way of manipulating magnetic anisotropy, and hence mag-netisation dynamics, by nanostructuring of epitaxial Fe films. It is based on the property that magnetic anisotropy of Fe films is thickness dependent. It is demonstrated that using techniques of nanostructuring, a 2 dimensional mag-netic system with controllable variation of local magnetic anisotropy is created. Such a system could be a potential magnonic crystal. chapter 6 demonstrates the proof of concept of a new memory device where memory is stored in the magnetic domain configuration of a ring in relation to that of a nano-wire. Switching between the memory states is acheived through spin trasfer torque of an electric current passing through the device, whereas read-out of the memory state is through the measurement of resistance of the device. Devices are made using NiFe and Co; it is seen that the behaviour of the devices can be explained taking into account the anisotropic magnetoresistance of the material used. Finally, the various results are summarised and a broad outlook is given. Some possible future research related to the topics dealt within this thesis is discussed.