Effects of deposition temperature and in-situ annealing time on structure and magnetic properties of (001) orientation FePt films

FePt films were prepared on (100) oriented single crystal MgO substrates at high temperature ranging from 620 until 800 °C and in-situ annealed for different times ranging from 0 to 60 min to obtain ordered FePt films. The structural analysis indicates that FePt films grow epitaxially on MgO (100) substrates. Both increasing deposition temperature and in-situ annealing time enhance the (001) texture and ordering of FePt films. The magnetic analysis shows that these L1₀ FePt films have perpendicular anisotropy and the easy magnetization c-axis is perpendicular to the film plane. Magnetization reversal is controlled by a rotational mechanism. The hard magnetic properties of the films are improved with increasing deposition temperature or in-situ annealing time.