Structural characterization and magnetic properties of L10-MnAl films grown on different underlayers by molecular beam epitaxy

We grow MnAl films on different underlayers by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), and investigate their structural and magnetic properties. L10-ordered MnAl films were successfully grown both on an MgO(0 0 1) single-crystalline substrate and on an Mn4N(0 0 1) buffer layer formed on MgO(0 0 1) and SrTiO3(0 0 1) substrates. For the MgO substrate, post rapid thermal annealing (RTA) drastically improved the crystalline quality and the degree of L10-ordering, whereas no improvement in the crystallinity was achieved by altering the substrate temperature (TS) during MBE growth. However, high-quality L10-MnAl films were formed on the Mn4N buffer layer by simply varying TS. Structural analysis using X-ray diffraction showed MnAl on an MgO substrate had a cubic structure whereas MnAl on the Mn4N buffer had a tetragonal structure. This difference in crystal structure affected the magnetic properties of the MnAl films. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy constant (Ku) was drastically improved by inserting an Mn4N buffer layer. We achieved a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Ku = 5.0 ± 0.7 Merg/cm3 for MnAl/Mn4N film on MgO and 6.0 ± 0.2 Merg/cm3 on STO. These results suggest that Mn4N has potential as an underlayer for L10-MnAl.