Chemical ordering of FePt nanoparticle self-assemblies by rapid thermal annealing

Self-assembled 4 nm FePt nanoparticle arrays were treated with rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The phase transformation from the chemically disordered face-centered-cubic structure of the as-synthesized FePt nanoparticles to the chemically ordered face-centered-tetragonal structure was realized by RTA, with both the annealing temperature and time being greatly reduced, as compared to conventional annealing. The onset of chemical ordering occurred at the annealing condition of around 400degreesC for only 5 s. Temperature-dependent coercivity measurements revealed strong thermal effects of the nanoparticle assemblies. Curie temperatures (T-c) of the annealed assemblies were derived from the temperature-dependent hysteresis measurements. T-c of the annealed assemblies increases with increasing annealing temperature, but is about 200-300K lower than that of bulk FePt (750K). The drastic reduction of T-c may be attributed to size effect and partial chemical ordering of FePt nanoparticles. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.