A realization scheme of metamagnetic phase transition in FeRh films grown on glass substrates

Abstract Metamagnetic phase transition in FeRh films has attracted a great deal of attention due to their potential applications in heat-assisted magnetic recording. Conventionally, FeRh films were deposited on expensive single crystal substrates, such as MgO and PMN-PT. Here, a facile method to prepare FeRh films (∼30 nm) on glass substrates with magnetron sputtering has been proposed by introducing MgO and CrRu as buffer layers. Metamagnetic phase transition in the FeRh films have been successfully realized, and the transition behavior was modulated by TiO2 doping. From the resistance-temperature (R-T) and magnetization-temperature (M-T) curves, an optimized doping concentration (15 vol. %) has been found which has a distinct metamagnetic phase transition near room temperature. The resistance jumps from 12.5 Ω in cooling process to 13.1 Ω in warming process at 350 K, and producing a thermal hysteresis of ∼20 K. Comparing with FeRh films deposited on costly single crystal substrates, the present results indicate a feasible method for promising commercial FeRh films due to their low-cost.