Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of (001)-textured poly-crystalline MnAlGe films

Cu2Sb-type intermetallic compound, MnAlGe, is known to exhibit uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy and relatively small saturation magnetization, which is suitable for spintronic application, e.g. spin-transfer phenomena requiring small critical current density. Ge-concentration dependence of the crystal structures, saturation magnetization, Ms, and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, Ku was investigated for MnAlGe films prepared onto silicon substrates with a thermally oxidized amorphous layer. For the stoichiometric and Ge-rich samples, the films exhibited (001)-texture with perpendicular magnetization. The maximum values of Ms and Ku were 270 emu/cm3 and 4.8 × 106 erg/cm3, respectively, which were comparable values with those reported for bulk and epitaxially grown films in literatures.