Magnetization, Curie temperature and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of evaporated Fe-rare earth amorphous alloy films

Magnetization, Curie temperature and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy have been investigated for Fe100-xRx (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er) amorphous alloy films prepared by evaporation method. It is found that the Curie temperature of these films is much lower than that of amorphous alloys prepared by rapid quenching technique. The reason may be a difference of compositional short range ordering owing to the different sample preparation. The dependence of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy on temperature and composition is discussed based on one ion magnetic anisotropy of rare earth ions. The main part of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy can be considered due to the large one ion magnetic anisotropy of rare earths.