Fabrication of in-plane magnetized FePt sputtered films with large uniaxial anisotropy

Abstract

Abstract In-plane magnetized FePt films were prepared on MgO (1 1 0) single crystalline substrates by sputter-deposition, and the effects of a buffer layer and substrate temperature during deposition ( T s ) on the formation of the L1 0 ordered structure have been investigated. From the X-ray diffraction patterns, the FePt (1 1 0) and (3 3 0) superlattice peaks of L1 0 phase have been clearly observed for the FePt thin film with an Au buffer layer deposited at T s =300°C. High degree of chemical order ( S =0.7±0.1) have been achieved, leading to the large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy K u of 2.4×10 7 erg/cm 3 with the easy axis along an in-plane direction.