Effects of layering and magnetic annealing on the texture of CoPt films

Abstract

The effect of magnetic field annealing of magnetron sputtered CoPt alloy films and Co/Pt bilayers on the crystallographic texture of the obtained chemically ordered (L1 0) CoPt films is presented. In CoPt alloy films the main effect of the magnetic field is to suppress (1 1 1) growth in the early stages of L1 0 formation whereas the development of (0 0 1) versus (1 0 0) texture is related to chemical ordering strain. A higher degree of (0 0 1) texture is obtained by magnetically annealing Co/Pt bilayers since the initial (1 1 1) texture in the as-sputtered films is avoided and Co–Pt alloying occurs in the presence of the magnetic field.