Ultrathin films of polycrystalline MnGa alloy with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy

Room temperature growth of textured polycrystalline films of MnGa alloys using a CoGa buffer layer on a thermally oxidized Si substrate is demonstrated. MnGa thin films with a thickness of 2 nm exhibit out-of-plane rectangular hysteresis loops. A small saturation magnetization of about 200 emu/cm3 and a large perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of up to 3–5 Merg/cm3 were achieved for 2- and 3-nm-thick MnGa ultrathin films; such values have never been reported before, and they provide a pathway for integration with conventional Si technology.