Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in Ta/Co2FeAl/MgO multilayers

In this paper, we demonstrate the stabilization of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) in Ta/Co2FeAl/MgO multilayers sputtered on thermally oxidized Si(100) substrates. The magnetic analysis points out that these films show significant interfacial anisotropy even in the as-deposited state, K S = 0.67 erg / cm 2, enough to provide PMA for the as-deposited films with thicknesses below 1.5 nm. Moreover, the interfacial anisotropy is enhanced by thermal annealing up to 300 °C. The presence of a magnetic dead layer, whose thickness increases with annealing temperature, was also identified. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.