The effects of Cu doping on crystalline structure and magnetic properties of SmCo5-xCux thin films grown on Ru (0002)

In this study, we successfully utilized Ru (0002) textured film as underlayer for epitaxial growth of the highly (0001) textured SmCo5-xCux thin films with perpendicular anisotropy. Effects of Cu doping on the crystalline structure and magnetic properties of SmCo5-xCux thin films were investigated. With the increase of the Cu proportion, the Curie temperature (T-C) of SmCo5-xCux thin films is largely decreased. The ultra-high anisotropy and adjustable T-C indicate that Sm(Co,Cu)(5) magnetic film, which is thermally stable at room temperature and writable at an appropriate high temperature, could be a potential choice of heat assisted magnetic recording media materials. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.