Rapid Thermal Annealing Induced Metastable Phase in FePt Thin Films

Room-temperature-deposited FePt thin films with thickness (
t
) ranged from 5 to 100 nm treated by rapid-thermal annealing (RTA) were studied. With annealing condition of 900
^°
C for 60 seconds at heating rate of 80
^°
C/sec., a metastable phase of FePt was observed in the films with
t
≥ 40 nm. The phase is chemically ordered with a face-centered-cubic (fcc) structure. The lattice parameter of it is found identical to the planar spacing of
L
1
₀
(100). The metastable structure is dominant in the film with
t
= 40 nm and gradually replaced by
L
1
₀
phase with increasing
t
. The fcc phase is soft magnetic with saturation magnetization similar to that of disordered FePt. Drastic changes were also observed in surface morphology. The results infer the connection between the metastable transformation and internal strain. The formation of the fcc structure is sensitive to processing parameters except
t
. Slower heating rate, lower annealing temperature, and longer annealing time, tend to suppress the formation of it. The interesting findings provide additional knowledge for FePt thin films.