Effect of Annealing on Perpendicular Magnetic Anisotropy and Low Saturation Magnetization of MgO/Co{sub 2}FeAl/Mo Trilayer Films
In this study, we report our approach to manipulate the strength of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) at oxide/ferromagnetic metal of Heusler alloy (HA) interface by tuning the parameter of annealing temperature. Robust PMA energy density (K{sub eff}) of ∼ 0.43 × 10{sup 6} erg/cm{sup 3} and small saturation magnetization (M{sub s}) as low as ∼ 248 emu/cm{sup 3} have been achieved for MgO/Co{sub 2}FeAl (CFA)/Mo stacks at 400 {sup ∘}C. We identify that PMA energy is thermally stable up to the maximum temperature of 400 {sup ∘}C. Effect of annealing temperature on surface morphology, grain distribution, and surface roughness of the stacks are investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). Further, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) study demonstrates that the interfacial oxidation decides the strong PMA property at MgO/Co{sub 2}FeAl interface during the annealing process. This MgO/CFA/Mo trilayer system can be a suitable candidate for the development of low-power consumption, huge-density data storage, high-thermal stability against the annealing temperature, and nonvolatile magnetic memories.