Co2FeAl (CFA) thin films with thickness varying from 10 nm to 115 nm have been deposited on MgO(001) substrates by magnetron sputtering and then capped by Ta or Cr layer. X-rays diffraction (XRD) revealed that the cubic [001] CFA axis is normal to the substrate and that all the CFA films exhibit full epitaxial growth. The chemical order varies from the B2 phase to the A2 phase when decreasing the thickness. Magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) and vibrating sample magnetometer measurements show that, depending on the field orientation, one or two-step switchings occur. Moreover, the films present a quadratic MOKE signal increasing with the CFA thickness, due to the increasing chemical order. Ferromagnetic resonance, MOKE transverse bias initial inverse susceptibility and torque (TBIIST) measurements reveal that the in-plane anisotropy results from the superposition of a uniaxial and of a fourfold symmetry term. The fourfold anisotropy is in accord with the crystal structure of the samples and is correlated to the biaxial strain and to the chemical order present in the films. In addition, a large negative perpendicular uniaxial anisotropy is observed. Frequency and angular dependences of the FMR linewidth show two magnon scattering and mosaicity contributions, which depend on the CFA thickness. A Gilbert damping coefficient as low as 0.0011 is found. arXiv:1305.0714v1 [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

This paper shows the correlation between chemical order, lattice strains, and magnetic properties of Heusler Co 2 FeAl films epitaxially grown on MgO(001). A detailed magnetic characterization is performed using vectorfield magnetometery combined with a numerical Stoner-Wohlfarth analysis. We demonstrate the presence of three types of in-plane anisotropies: one biaxial, as expected for the cubic symmetry, and two uniaxial. The three anisotropies show different behavior with the annealing temperature. The biaxial anisotropy shows a monotonic increase. The uniaxial anisotropy that is parallel to the hard biaxial axes (related to chemical homogeneity) decreases, while the anisotropy that is supposed to have a magnetostatic origin remains constant.

10 nm and 50 nm Co2FeAl (CFA) thin films have been deposited on MgO(001) and Si(001) substrates by magnetron sputtering and annealed at different temperatures. X-rays diffraction revealed polycrystalline or epitaxial growth (according to the relation CFA (001)[110]//MgO(001)[100] epitaxial relation), respectively for CFA films grown on a Si and on a MgO substrate. For these later, the chemical order varies from the A2 phase to the B2 phase when increasing the annealing temperature (Ta) while only the A2 disorder type has been observed for CFA grown on Si. Microstrip ferromagnetic resonance (MS-FMR) measurements revealed that the in-plane anisotropy results from the superposition of a uniaxial and of a fourfold symmetry term for CFA grown on MgO substrates. This fourfold anisotropy, which disappears completely for samples grown on Si, is in accord with the crystal structure of the samples. The fourfold anisotropy field decreases when increasing Ta while the uniaxial anisotropy field is nearly unaffected by Ta within the investigated range. The MS-FMR data also allow for concluding that the gyromagnetic factor remains constant and that the exchange stiffness constant increases with Ta. Finally, the FMR linewidth decreases when increasing Ta, due to the enhancement of the chemical order. We derive a very low intrinsic damping parameter (1.1 × 10 −3 and 1.3 × 10 −3 for films of 50 nm thickness annealed at 615°C grown on MgO and on Si, respectively).