The layer - by - layer growth of ferromagnetic τ phase MnAl thin films by Bias Target Ion Beam

Submitted for the MAR11 Meeting of The American Physical Society The layer-by-layer growth of ferromagnetic τ phase MnAl thin films by Bias Target Ion Beam1 YISHEN CUI, WENJING YIN, JIWEI LU, STUART WOLF, Univ of Virginia — It is well known that the metastable τ phase of MnAl has a L10 structure (chemical ordering along [001] directions) and is the only ferromagnetic phase of this binary intermetallic. In our study, alternating Al/Mn quasi-monolayer deposition was developed using a novel Bias Target Ion Beam deposition technique, that enabled precise control of the microstructural growth. We have obtained epitaxial τ phase MnAl thin films (∼10 nm thick) on single crystal MgO substrates with improved saturation magnetization and anisotropy in comparison with co-sputtered ultra thin films. We will discuss the microstructure and magnetic behaviors of MnAl films in detail. 1We acknowledge the support from DARPA. Yishen Cui Univ of Virginia Date submitted: 09 Nov 2010 Electronic form version 1.4