Origins of stress-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of sputtered iron oxide thin films

CoCr-doped γ-Fe
2
O
3
thin films prepared by RF sputtering and annealing processes exhibit stress-induced perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. This stress is found to be caused by both the ion bombardment on the film surface during sputter-deposition and the lattice misfit between the film and the substrate. The thermal effects play a less important role in causing stress in the films examined in this study.