Magnetic Force Microscopy Study of Alternate Sputtered (001), Oriented L1 0 Phase FePt Films

We present a magnetic force microscopy study of alternate sputtered (001) oriented L1(0) phase FePt films. It is found that the root-mean-square value of phase shift of magnetic force images, can be used to characterize the perpendicular anisotropy for a series of specimens. Therefore, the considerable improvement of the perpendicular anisotropy after post-annealing can be characterized. In addition, the magnetic properties, magnetic and crystalline microstructures before and after post-annealing are compared for the typical [Fe5nmPt5nm](10) film with substrate temperature T-s = 500 degrees C, single layer thickness d = 5 nm and total layer thickness D = 100 nm to confirm the effect of post-annealing on improving the perpendicular anisotropy for Fe-Pt films.