Ordered phase formation in Sm-Ni thin film deposited on Cr(100) single-crystal underlayer

¹ Faculty of Science and Engineering, Chuo University, 1-13-27 Kasuga, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 112-8551, Japan
² Graduate School of Fine Arts, Tokyo University of the Arts, 12-8 Ueno-koen, Taito-ku, Tokyo 110-8714, Japan
³ Faculty of Engineering, Yamagata University, 4-3-16 Jyonan, Yonezawa 992-8510, Japan

^a Corresponding author: hotta@futamoto.elect.chuo-u.ac.jp

Published online: 3 July 2014

Abstract

Sm₁₇Ni₈₃ (at. %) alloy thin films are prepared on Cr(100) underlayers hetero-epitaxially grown on MgO(100) single-crystal substrates by employing an ultra-high vacuum molecular beam epitaxy system. The effect of substrate temperature on the ordered phase formation is investigated. The films deposited below 300 °C consist of amorphous phase, whereas formation of SmNi₅ ordered phase is recognized for the films deposited above 400 °C. The SmNi₅ films with ordered phase consist of two types of (11$$\overline{2}$$0) variant whose c-axes are lying in the film plane and rotated around the film normal by 90° each other. With increasing the temperature from 400 to 500 °C, the long-range order degree increases from 0.65 to 0.80. The ordered film formed at 500 °C shows an in-plane magnetic anisotropy reflecting the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of SmNi₅ crystal.