L10 Ordered Thin Films for Spintronic and Permanent Magnet Applications

Materials with strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) are fundamentally appealing and also relevant for numerous applications especially reconsidering their practical relevance for the enhancement of the energy product for thin film based permanent magnets and realization of energy efficient and miniaturized spintronic devices. In contrast to materials exhibiting PMA due to surface anisotropy, these applications would benefit from thin films where PMA stems from a strong uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (Ku). In this regard, magnetic thin films with chemically ordered L10 structure, representing alternation of A and B atomic planes along the c direction, are considered as most promising due to the high Ku values and finely tunable magnetic properties. Typical representatives of L10 structures are ordered binary phases, e.g. FePt, FePd, MnAl, MnGa, or NiFe, etc. phases. In the case when the c axes of the L10 structure is normal to the film plane, remarkably strong PMA could can be achieved. Another important property of L10 structures is their thermodynamic stability providing resistance of corresponding devices against thermal processing. Here, we will review the application prospects of L10 ordered magnetic thin films for spintronic and permanent magnet technologies.