Structural and magnetic properties of MnAl thin films with different composition, growth temperature, and post-annealing temperature were investigated. The optimum condition for fabrication of L1_0-MnAl perpendicularly magnetized thin film deposited on Cr-buffered MgO single crystal substrate was revealed. The results of x ray diffraction indicated that the MnAl films annealed at proper temperature had a (001)-orientation and L1_0-ordered structure. The L1_0-ordered films were perpendicularly magnetized and had a large perpendicular anisotropy. In addition, low surface roughness was achieved. For the optimized fabrication condition, the saturation magnetization M_s of 600 emu/cm~3 and perpendicular magnetic anisotropy K_u of 1.0 × 10~7 erg/cm~3 was obtained using the Mn_(48)Al_(52) target at deposition temperature of 200 °C and post-annealing temperature of 450 °C.
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