Low temperature ordering of FePt films by in-situ heating deposition plus post deposition annealing

• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2009.11.009
• Publication Date: 2009-11-16T09:22:04Z
• Authors: Y.S. Yu; Hai-Bo Li; W.L. Li; Mei Liu; Yu-Mei Zhang; W.D. Fei; D.J. Sellmyer
• Keywords: Film plane

Abstract FePt thin films with 40 nm thickness were prepared on thermally oxidized Si (001) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering at the nominal growth temperature 375 °C. The effects of annealing on microstructure and magnetic properties of FePt thin films were investigated. The as-deposited FePt thin films show soft magnetic properties. After the as-deposited FePt thin films were annealed at various temperatures and furnace cooled, it is found that the ordering temperature of L 1 0 FePt phase could be reduced to 350 °C. For FePt thin films annealed at 350 °C, the in-plane and out-of-plane coercivities of the films increased to 510 and 543 kA/m, respectively, and the films had hard magnetic properties. A highly (001) orientation was obtained, when FePt thin films were annealed at 600 °C. And the hysteresis loops of FePt thin films annealed at 600 °C show out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy.