Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in chemically disordered FePd–FeV„100... alloy thin films

We find that the use of V 100 buffer layers on MgO 001 substrates for the epitaxy of FePd binary alloys yields to the formation at intermediate and high deposition temperatures of a FePd–FeV mixed phase due to strong V diffusion accompanied by a loss of layer continuity and strong increase of its mosaic spread. Contrary to what is usually found in this kind of systems, these mixed phase structures exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy PMA which is not correlated with the presence of chemical order, almost totally absent in all the fabricated structures, even at deposition temperatures where it is usually obtained with other buffer layers. Thus the observed PMA can be ascribed to the V interdiffusion and the formation of a FeV alloy, being the global sample saturation magnetization also reduced. © 2006 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2187413