Growth of CoCrTa„112̄0...-oriented thin films on a D03 Mn3Si„002... underlayer

Mn3Si possesses a D03 structure, which is a bcc derivative structure with nearly the same atomic spacing as Cr and NiAl which have been commonly used for longitudinal magnetic recording underlayers. AG~30 nm!/CoCrTa~40 nm!/Mn3Si(x , x5100, 200, 400 nm)/Ag~75 nm! thin films were sputter deposited onto hydrofluoric acid ~HF!-etched Si:~001! substrates at elevated temperature. Compared to the 100 and 200 nm thick Mn3Si samples, the XRD spectrum of the 400 nm thick Mn3Si sample shows a significant increase in the intensity of the Mn3Si~002! peak. This suggests that a high volume fraction of the D03 phase was formed. The CoCrTa~112̄0! peak intensity has been found to increase with Mn3Si thickness. As a result, the in-plane coercivity increases as the volume fraction of the D03 phase increases. © 2000 American Institute of Physics. @S0021-8979~00!88408-X#