Effect of deposition temperature on morphology and magnetic properties of Co50Fe50 thin films produced by femtosecond pulsed laser deposition

Abstract: Deposition temperature effect on morphological, topological and magnetic characteristics of nanoparticle-assembled Co50Fe50 films produced by femtosecond pulsed laser deposition (fs-PLD) on Kapton substrate was investigated. For substrate temperature T s ≥550K, a decrement of the nanoparticle''s aggregates and an increment of the nanoparticle''s density were observed with respect to room temperature deposition; this in association with a strong increase of the magnetoelastic anisotropy energy lead to a reduction of the remanence ratio, a significant rise of the saturation and coercive fields and an enhancement of the saturation magnetization. The results are discussed focusing on: i) the correlation between films structure and their magnetic behavior; ii) the role of the different anisotropy energies in determining the harder in-plane magnetic behavior for T s ≥550K. The thermal strain of Kapton substrate holds an important role in generating morphological and topological characteristics of the fs-PLD films and corresponding magnetic properties. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]