Investigation of phase transformation behavior in sputter deposited PtMn thin films
- University of Wisconsin, Madison
- Hutchinson Technology, Hutchinson, MN
- ORNL
- CompuTherm LLC, Madison, WI
- Seagate Technology, Bloomington, MN
Sputter-deposited, equiatomic PtMn thin films have application in giant magnetoresistive spin valves, tunneling magnetoresistive spin valves, and magnetic random access memory. However, the as-deposited films are found to be a disordered A1 phase in a paramagnetic state rather than an antiferromagnetic phase with L1{sub 0} structure, which is needed for device operation. Therefore, a postannealing step is required to induce the phase transformation from the as-deposited A1 face-centered-cubic phase to the antiferromagnetic L1{sub 0} phase. The A1 to L1{sub 0} metastable transformation was studied by x-ray diffraction and differential-scanning calorimetry. An exothermic transformation enthalpy of -12.1 kJ/mol of atoms was determined. The transformation kinetics were simulated using the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami analysis.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 978162
- Journal Information:
- Journal of the Minerals Metals & Materials Society (JOM), Vol. 58, Issue 6; ISSN 1047--4838
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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