The perpendicular anisotropic magnetic properties of in-situ deposited FePt/Pt/Cr trilayer films were elucidated as functions of the deposition temperature and the sputtering rate of the FePt magnetic layer. Ordered L1(0) FePt thin films with perpendicular anisotropy and a (001) texture can be developed at a temperature as low as 300 degrees C with the sputtering of a FePt layer at a low rate. The larger Pt(001)[100] lattice induced an expansion of the FePt a- and b-axis, leading to the contraction of the FePt c-axis, enabling the epitaxial growth of the L1(0) FePt(001) texture to occur. A low rate of sputtering of the FePt thin film promotes the formation of the magnetically hard FePt(001) texture on the surface of the Pt(001) buffer layer at low temperature, while the high sputtering rate of FePt layer suppresses the phase transformation. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.