Microstructure and magnetic properties studies of SmCo5 thin films grown on MgO and glass substrates

In this work, SmCo₅ thin films are deposited on single crystal MgO (1 0 0) and amorphous glass substrates with a Cr underlayer at 400 °C by sputtering. A comparison study shows that the microstructures and magnetic properties are different in the two SmCo₅ films on the MgO (1 0 0) and glass substrates, respectively. An epitaxial growth of Cr-(2 0 0)〈1 1 0〉/SmCo₅-(1 1 2¯ 0)〈0 0 0 1〉 is achieved on the MgO (1 0 0) single crystal substrate with an average grain size of 20 nm for SmCo₅. On the amorphous glass substrate, no significant crystallographic texture is found in the Cr underlayer. After the deposition of SmCo₅, a weak texture of (1 1 2¯ 0) is observed with an average grain size of 8 nm. High remanence ratio value in this film is probably due to strong exchange coupling. Both SmCo₅ films show high in-plane coercivity, high in-plane anisotropy and remanence enhancement.