Fabrication of L1/sub 0/-FePt thin films by rapid thermal annealing

Abstract

The indirect rapid thermal annealing system with water cooling for the fabrication of L1/sub 0/-FePt thin films at low temperature was effectively developed. The FePt thin films were deposited on corning #7059 substrates by RF magnetron sputtering, and film composition was determined by energy disperse spectroscopy. The magnetic properties (measured by a vibrating sample magnetometer), crystalline structure (determined by X-ray diffraction) and film morphology and roughness (observed by an atomic force microscope) during the ordering process were consequently investigated. Results show that the FePt thin films changed to L1/sub 0/ ordered structure at lower glass substrate temperature by using indirect rapid thermal annealing system. Moreover, the grain diameter calculated by Scherrer's equation from FePt(111) peaks was smaller than conventional thermal annealing.