Seed layer effect on texture and magnetic properties of SmCo5 thin films

Abstract

In this work, we have studied the influence of seed layer on the microstructure of the Cu underlayer and its effect on the structure and magnetic properties of subsequently deposited SmCo5 films. Our investigation concentrated on the thickness effect of Ta seed layer. Our study has shown that a smooth Ta seed layer can lead in a highly textured and well crystallized (111) Cu underlayer. At 4 nm (Ta thickness), the full width at half maximum of the rocking curve (Δ θ50) of Cu (111) diffraction peak is only 3.3° and the surface root-mean-square roughness (Rq) of Cu surface is only 0.53 nm. With the smooth and highly (111) textured Cu underlayer, the superstructure SmCo5 (000l) peaks are clearly observed. Also, the good texture of SmCo5 results in a high perpendicular coercivity around 20 kOe with a large perpendicular anisotropy. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.