Growth and characterization of L1/sub 0/ FePt and CoPt [001] textured polycrystalline thin films

Thin [001] textured FePt and CoPt polycrystalline films (5 nm) were deposited with an MgO polycrystalline underlayer on an oxidized Si substrate followed by a Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) process. Structural analysis indicated the samples to be fully ordered after 10 minutes (min) of RTA at 700/spl deg/C. The magnetic hysteresis exhibited strong perpendicular anisotropy and a coercivity (H/sub c/) between 6 and 8 kOe. The measured and simulated angular dependence of H/sub c/ and remanent coercivity (H/sub re/) showed the possibility of domain wall motion or incoherent rotation. /spl delta/M curves demonstrated strong intergranular exchange coupling. MFM observations showed domain sizes to be 100-200 nm. Activation volumes (V/sub act/) were found to be /spl sim/0.4-0.5/spl times/10/sup -18/ cm/sup 3/. The temperature dependence of the coercivity (H/sub c/) indicated a weak pinning mechanism.