Effect of substrate temperature on the magnetic properties and internal stresses of CoPt/AlN multilayer deposited by dc magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Magnetic properties and internal stresses of AlN(20 nm)/[CoPt(2 nm)/AlN(20 nm)]₅ multilayer structure deposited at different substrate temperatures by dc magnetron sputtering have been studied. It is found that with increasing the substrate temperature from room temperature to 400 °C, in-plane magnetic anisotropy field of the film becomes smaller, and the out-of-plane magnetization becomes stronger. Especially when the film is deposited at substrate temperature of 400 °C, the out-of-plane magnetization becomes as strong as the in-plane magnetization. On the other hand, the total in-plane residual stress of the film changes gradually from compressive to tensile. The compressive intrinsic stress is generated during deposition process and decreases with increasing the substrate temperature. After annealing at high temperatures, the films show strong perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. With increasing the annealing temperature, the in-plane thermal stress also increases and becomes dominant, which is considered to result in the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of the films.