Epitaxial growth of Co-Cr films and their characterization

Abstract

In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the study of Co‐Cr thin films. There are mainly two different models of magnetization mechanisms which have been proposed in the literature, typified by the work of Iwasaki et al. and that of Wielinga et al. To further clarify this matter, epitaxial Co‐Cr films have been grown by rf sputtering onto (001) MgO single‐crystal substrates. The cleanliness of the substrate and target were found to be the most critical parameters. The substrate bias and too high a substrate heating temperature were also found to be unfavorable for epitaxial growth of Co‐Cr films. These epitaxial films were characterized by x‐ray diffraction, electron diffraction, Auger spectroscopy, VSM, and torque magnetometer. It is found that low argon pressure ranging from 1 to 2 mTorr favors the epitaxial growth of Co‐Cr films. The values of K_u, K₁ and H_k of the epitaxial films are higher than those of the polycrystal Co‐Cr films.