${L}{\text {1}}_{\text {0}}$ -Ordered MnAl Thin Films With High Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy Using TiN Underlayers on Si Substrates

Processes for the sputter deposition of L1
₀
-ordered τ-phase MnAl thin films using conductive TiN underlayers on Si substrates have been developed. Deposition parameters were systematically varied and resulting films were characterized in terms of structural and magnetic properties. Fabricated films demonstrated strong (001) texture and high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, with an out-of-plane coercivity H
_c
of up to 12 kOe, an anisotropy constant K
_u
of 1.0 × 10
⁷
erg/cm
³
, a saturation magnetization M
_s
of 250 emu/cm
³
, and a squareness M
_r
/M
_s
of 0.9.