Investigation of phase miscibility of CoCrPt thin films using anomalous x-ray scattering and extended x-ray absorption fine structure

The phase miscibility of Co, Cr and Pt in oriented nanostructured CoCrPt magnetic thin films was investigated using anomalous x-ray scattering (AXS) from the (002) reflection and extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) at Co K, Cr K and Pt LIII edges. The AXS measurements at Co K edge clearly showed the presence of Co in the crystalline region. However, Cr was not detected in the lattice. The EXAFS at Co K edge indicated that the nearest neighboring atoms of Co were mixed with 80% Co and 20% Pt, consistent with the results of EXAFS at Pt LIII edge. Our observations suggested that only Pt and Co were at the Co (002) lattice of the nanotextured CoCrPt thin films. This indicated that the AXS alone may not be reliable to determine the phase miscibility in textured thin films. Complementary information from the EXAFS was useful to understand the phase miscibility of nanoscale materials.