The Influence of Substrate Bias on the Texture Control and Performance of CrV Underlayer for L10 FePt Thin Films

The influence of substrate bias on the texture control and the performance of CrV underlayer for L1(0) FePt thin films was investigated. CrV(25 nm)/Pt(2 nm)/FePt(7 nm) films were deposited at 300 degrees C using a load-locked ultrahigh vacuum dc magnetron sputter system. During the CrV underlayer deposition, additional RF power (13.56 MHz) was used to apply various negative bias voltages (V = 0 to -60 V) to the substrate; then, its effect on the texture control and performance of the CrV underlayer was investigated. The result of this paper shows that CrV(002) texture control with remarkably increased crystallinity can be achieved without elevating the processing temperature or operating the post-annealing process but by applying suitable substrate bias voltage during the film formation step enabling the CrV thin film to act as an excellent underlayer for upper L1(0) phase FePt layer.