Epitaxial L10 FePt films on SrTiO3 (1Â 0Â 0) by sputtering

FePt magnetic thin films (20 nm) were deposited on SrTiO3 (1 0 0) single-crystal substrates at 150, 250, and 350 °C by DC magnetron sputtering. The dependence of the structural and magnetic properties of the FePt films on the substrate temperature was studied. At 150 °C, the FePt film showed a (1 1 1) preferred orientation. At 250 °C, the superlattice FePt (0 0 1) peak appeared indicating that the ordering process had occurred. At 350 °C, the FePt film illustrated a (0 0 1) preferred orientation. The epitaxial relationship between FePt film and SrTiO3 substrate was demonstrated to be FePt (0 0 1) 〈1 0 0〉 ∥SrTiO3 (1 0 0) 〈1 0 0〉 with high resolution X-ray diffraction (XRD). The L10 ordered FePt film sputtered at 350 °C showed a well-controlled easy-axis distribution (the degree of the FePt (0 0 1) preferred orientation was indirectly characterized by the full-width at half-maximum of the FePt (2 0 2) rocking curve ∼0.9°) as well as a high Ku value (∼1.56×107 erg/cm3).