Epitaxial L1-FeNi films with high degree of order and large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy fabricated by denitriding FeNiN films

L10-orderd FeNi alloy films with a high degree of order (S) and a large uniaxial magnetic anisotropy energy (Ku) were realized by denitriding FeNiN films. FeNiN films with the a-axis perpendicular to the film plane were epitaxially grown on SrTiO3 (001) substrates by molecular beam epitaxy by changing the growth temperatures (TS) to 200, 250, and 350 °C. The a-axis oriented epitaxial L10-FeNi films were fabricated by annealing the FeNiN films in a H2 gas atmosphere at 300 °C. S and Ku of the denitrided L10-FeNi films were characterized by anomalous x-ray diffraction using synchrotron radiation and magnetic torque measurements, respectively. A high S of 0.87 and a Ku of 5.9 × 105 J/m3 were realized in the L10-FeNi film with a TS of 350 °C. This high S value exceeds the values reported on L10-FeNi to date, but the Ku value was comparable to those of c-axis oriented L10-FeNi films with S ∼ 0.5 grown by alternate monoatomic deposition of Fe and Ni layers. A possible origin for the suppressed macroscopic Ku in a-axis oriented L10-FeNi films is discussed, and denitriding FeNiN is a promising method for the fabrication of L10-FeNi with a high S and a large Ku.