Effect of Rapid Thermal Annealing on the Structural and Magnetic Properties of Nanostructured FePt Thin Films

The main goal of this study is to investigate the structural and magnetic properties of FePt thin film with respect to the annealing tempreture. The FePt thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on Corning glass substrates at a room temperature. The films were then post-annealed at the Range of 575-675°C for 20 s by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) at a high heating ramp rate of 100 °Cs. Phase identification of thin films was performed using X-ray diffraction (XRD). With employing SEM, the size and uniformity of grains were studied. Moreover magnetic properties of annealed thin films were evaluated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). XRD results showed that the ordered FePt structure is formed at 625°C. According to the hysteresis loops, maximum out-of-plane and in-plane coercivity reached 7kOe. this value was achieve at 675°C .These results reveal its significant potential as magnetic recording media for high-density recording.