Tailoring the growth of L10-FePt for spintronics applications

Abstract

The effect of seed layers on the magnetic and structural properties of FePt thin films was investigated. For the case of Cr(200) seed layer, no ordered L10-FePt phase in (001) orientation was observed. The insertion of a thin MgO barrier between the Cr and FePt layers improved the perpendicular magnetization orientation of L10-FePt by limiting diffusion of Cr into the FePt magnetic layer. Ordered L10-FePt thin films can be developed on Pd[100] at high substrate temperature with the lattice mismatch of below 1% and therefore low roughness compared to MgO or Cr seed layers. (© 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) Ordered L10-FePt with large magnetocrystalline anisotropy (Ku) and high saturation magnetization (Ms) enables potential scaling of spintronic devices down to 5 nm. FePt films need to be smooth and possess good (001) texture in order to achieve the desired properties for spintronics applications. This Letter focuses on tailoring of L10-FePt growth for such applications. The L10-FePt magnetic layers deposited on Pd seed layers exhibit large ordering parameter, smoothness and strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Copyright © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.