Magnetic anisotropy and chemical long-range order in epitaxial ferrimagnetic CrPt3 films

Thin films of CrPt3 were prepared by molecular beam epitaxy on both Al2O3(0 0 0 1) and MgO(0 0 1) substrates, either directly by co-deposition of Cr and Pt at high temperatures or after in situ annealing of superlattices [Cr(2 Angstrom)/Pt(7 Angstrom)]. In situ RHEED observations and X-ray diffraction measurements have allowed us to check the single-crystal quality of CrPt3 films and to determine the degree of L1(2)-type long-range order (LRO). In films co-deposited between 850 degrees C and 950 degrees C a nearly perfect LRO has been observed. As in bulk alloys, such ordering yields a ferrimagnetic order, while the disordered films are non-magnetic. In contrast with the ferromagnetic L1(2)-type ordered CoPt3(1 1 1)films, the ferrimagnetic CrPt3(1 1 1) films exhibit perpendicular magnetic anisotropy with quality factors, K-u/K-d, as large as 5 and large coercivities around 450 kA/m. Such anisotropy could be related to the arrangement of Cr atoms, which owing to their large magnetic moment, oppositely directed to the small Pt moment, drive the magnetization. Since the six Cr nearest neighbours around a Cr atom are along the < 001 > directions, making an angle of 54.74 degrees with the [111] growth direction, the overlap of their electron distribution favors an easy axis of magnetization normal to the film plane. This idea is supported by the absence of magnetic anisotropy in ferrimagnetic CrPt3(0 0 1) films. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.