Morphology and domain pattern of epitaxially grown L10 FePt elongated particles

Morphology and domain pattern of L10 FePt particles were observed by using a magnetic force microscopy (MFM). FePt films with nominal thickness in the range of 5 nm⩽tN⩽40 nm were grown epitaxially by co-depositing Fe and Pt on MgO (0 0 1) substrates at an elevated temperature. Films were composed of elongated particles. The morphology of film and the domain structure of particle depend on tN. In the range of tN⩽8 nm, no multi-domain particles were observed; from tN=10 nm, a few bigger particles become multi-domain. The multi-domain particles have stripe-like domain structures. The relation between morphology and domain structure was discussed by employing a model of isolated rectangular parallelepiped with a stripe-like domain structure.