Effect of annealing temperature on characteristics of Ni76Fe24 films deposited on SiO2/Si(100) by DC magnetron co-sputtering

185 rim-thick Ni76Fe24 films were deposited on SiO2/Si(100) substrates at room temperature by DC magnetron co-sputtering and they were annealed in a vacuum of 5 x 10(-4) Pa at 300, 400 and 480 degrees C for 1 hour, respectively. The as-deposited film grows with thin columnar grains and has void networks in the grain boundaries. As the annealing temperature increases, the grain size gradually increases and the void networks decrease. Besides, the void networks shorten and widen with annealing temperature. The resistivity of the film decreases with increasing annealing temperature. The magnetic hysteresis loop of the as-deposited film shows a hard magnetization requiring a saturation field of 1050 Oe while that of the film annealed at 480 degrees C represents an easy magnetization. For the film annealed at 480 degrees C the coercivity is 78 Oe and the ratio of remanent magnetization to saturation magnetization is 0.72. The as-deposited and annealed films have an isotropic magnetization characteristic.