Magnetic anisotropy axis reorientation at ultrathin FePt films

Ultrathin FePt films (thickness between 1 nm and 5 nm) were studied for non‐volatile memories applications. The films were magnetron sputtered on monocrystalline MgO⟨001⟩ substrates at 500 °C. The films are polycrystalline, except the 1 nm thick film which is not continuous. It is shown that films with thickness higher than 2.7 nm have L10 structure and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, while a transition to in‐plane anisotropy occurs for thinner films. The out‐of‐plane coercivity drops from 16 kOe at the thicker film to 0.5 kOe at the thinner one.Funding from the EC through a FP7‐ICT project (Grant No. 318144) and from CSIC (Ref. i‐LINK0783), is acknowledged.Peer reviewe