Strong dependence of the tetragonal Mn_2.1Ga thin film crystallization temperature window on seed layer

For spintronic applications, such as magnetic memory and logic, magnetic thin films with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and spin polarization are needed. An attractive candidate material is the Heusler compound Mn3-xGa (x varying from 0 to 2). We show that there is a correlation between the degree of crystallization of thin films of Mn3-xGa (x similar to 0.9) and the magnitude of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. Moreover, we find that the crystallization temperature window varies with the seed layer on which the Mn3-xGa films are deposited. Seed layers of Pt, Cr, Ru, Mo and SrTiO3 were considered and the largest crystallization window was found for Pt(100) layers. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC