Study of effects of annealing on nanostructured Co–C thin films by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

The long-range order and the extent of crystallization of nanostructured thin films may not be reliably obtained by conventional X-ray diffraction when the crystalline domain size is smaller than the X-ray coherent length. Here we report an investigation of the effects of annealing on Co–C thin films by X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The local atomic order of Co increased with increasing annealing temperature, resulting in the increase of coercivity and saturation magnetization. The Co–C films annealed at 400 °C dominated by hexagonal close-packed phase with optimized magnetic properties are a promising media candidate for high density magnetic recording.