Structural and Magnetic Properties of Perpendicular Magnetized Mn$_{2.5}$Ga Epitaxial Films

Abstract

The influence of annealing temperature and film thickness on structural and magnetic properties of Mn <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2.5</sub> Ga films were investigated in this work. The annealing temperature of 400°C was found to be the optimum condition to obtain the films with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) (K <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">u</sub> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">eff</sup> = 7.8 × 10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">6</sup> erg/cm <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sup> ) and smooth surface (R <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">a</sub> ¿ 0.15 nm). The PMA property was maintained in the 5 nm thick film, and deterioration of the PMA properties with decreasing film thickness can be ascribed to the tensile strain existed in the thin Mn <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2.5</sub> Ga films.