Epitaxial L10 FePt films on SrTiO3 (1 0 0) by sputtering

FePt magnetic thin films (20 nm) were deposited on SrTiO3 (1 0 0) single-crystal substrates at 150, 250, and 350 1C by DC magnetron sputtering. The dependence of the structural and magnetic properties of the FePt films on the substrate temperature was studied. At 150 1C, the FePt film showed a (1 1 1) preferred orientation. At 250 1C, the superlattice FePt (0 0 1) peak appeared indicating that the ordering process had occurred. At 350 1C, the FePt film illustrated a (0 0 1) preferred orientation. The epitaxial relationship between FePt film and SrTiO3 substrate was demonstrated to be FePt (0 0 1) /1 0 0S JSrTiO3 (1 0 0) /1 0 0S with high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD). The L10 ordered FePt film sputtered at 350 1C showed a well-controlled easy-axis distribution (the degree of the FePt (0 0 1) preferred orientation was indirectly characterized by the full-width at half-maximum of the FePt (2 0 2) rocking curve 0.91) as well as a high Ku value ( 1.56 10 erg/cm). r 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.