Influence of energetic ions and neutral atoms on the L10 ordering of FePt films

The A1 → L10 phase transition of Fe50Pt50 films, deposited at room-temperature on amorphous SiO2 by dc magnetron co-sputtering at 0.3 Pa, was studied with in-situ X-ray diffraction. An almost complete transition characterized by a long-range order parameter S > 0.8 is obtained already after a heat treatment at (320 ± 20) °C. A post-deposition He ion irradiation (50 keV, 1 × 1015 − 3 × 1016 cm−2) does not further reduce the transition temperature. Theoretical calculations reveal that, due to the negligible thermalization of the sputtered atoms and reflected ions in the plasma, a considerable fraction of energetic ions and atoms meet the substrate surface. The low transition temperature is explained by the impact of energetic ions and atoms which provoke significant adatom mobility and a decrease of the activation energy for atomic reordering by vacancies. Consequently, using deposition parameters leading to a strong thermalized plasma, the FePt films showed an increase of the transition temperature up to 400 °C, a lower S-value (S ≅ 0.6) and a reduced coercivity.