For potential applications to ultrahigh density magnetic recording media, assemblies of magnetically decoupled L1{sub}0 FePt nanoparticles are required. Although sputter deposition on heated substrates at around 700°C leads to the formation of particulate structure for the FePt film with 10nm anominal thickness [1], continuous film morphology is obtained at temperatures below 550°C due to the sluggish atomic mobility [2]. The underlayers of Ag and Cu are reported to decrease the L1{sub}0 ordering temperature of FePt film [3-4]. However the morphology changes accompanied by the usage of these low melting temperature metal underlayer have not been investigated. In this study, we have found that Cu and Ag underlayers grow with the Volmer-Weber growth mode on MgO(001) substrates at relatively low temperature of around 400°C. Using these island-like grown films as templates, we have successfully fabricated magnetically decoupled L1{sub}0-FePt particulate films with the perpendiculate anisotropy at 520°C.
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