Structure and magnetism of epitaxial rare-earth–transition-metal films

Epitaxial rare-earth–transition-metal thin films have been grown by magnetron sputtering onto buffered single-crystal MgO substrates. Results are presented for SmFe12(001) and magnetically hard Sm2Co7 and Sm2Co17 (110) films using W (100) buffer layers. The methodology of utilizing epitaxial W buffer layers combined with cosputtering from elemental sources provides a general approach to tailor the orientation and phase of the films.