Effects of temperature gradients on magnetic anisotropy of SmCo based films

The magnetic anisotropy of SmCo-based permanent magnetic thin films are generally controlled by introducing buffer layer or heating substrate. However, the design for the multi-layer thin film system is complicated and the thickness of SmCo is limited due to a short range of interfacial stress/strain between the buffer layer and SmCo layer. In this work, the effects of temperature gradients, generated by RTP (rapid thermal process), on the magnetic anisotropy of the SmCo-based films were systematically investigated. The results show that the as-deposited films exhibit amorphous state. The out-of-plane coercivity of RTP-treated films is strongly correlated with the heating rate, and its optimum value (2810 Oe) is larger than that of the CTA (conventional thermal annealing) treated films (1670 Oe). For the RTP-treated films, the intensity of characteristic diffraction peaks for in-plane oriented SmCo5 (200) and Sm2Co17 (300) decreases, together with reducing the roughness. Besides, the grain size is finer and the contrast of magnetic domains becomes stronger for the RTP-treated films due to that the easy axis of SmCo5/Sm2Co17 phase gradually changes from in-plane to out-of-plane direction. It is suggested that the RTP treatment with a shorter annealing time has beneficial effects on obtaining finer microstructure and improving the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy of the SmCo-based films. This work provides a novel way to control the magnetic anisotropy via annealing temperature gradients for permanent magnetic thin films, compared with conventional methods, to induce the magnetic anisotropy. •This work provides a novel way to control the magnetic anisotropy via annealing temperature gradients for permanent magnetic thin films.•The shorter heating time of RTP results in finer grains and smoother surface.•RTP can induce the easy axis of SmCo phase to change from in-plane to out-of-plane direction and enhance the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy.