Ordering and grain growth of FePt thin films by annealing

Abstract Microstructure variation of FePt thin film upon annealing at elevated temperatures was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A special shape aperture was employed to observe the ordered L 1 0 phase in the dark-field TEM images. With increasing the annealing temperature, crystal grains formed clusters with gathering of neighboring grains, and crystal grain growth proceeded within the cluster. L 1 0 ordered crystal grains were preferentially formed near the grain boundaries, and their sizes grew with increasing the annealing temperature.