Magnetically soft and high-saturation-magnetization FeCo films fabricated by co-sputtering

Magnetically soft FeCo films with high saturation magnetization were successfully obtained by co-sputtering Fe65CO35 films onto a very thin Co93Fe7 seed layer, The coercivity of single FeCo films on the substrate was markedly reduced by increasing the deposition temperature and appropriately selecting the composition. The effect of composition and thickness of a high-Co-conecentration Co-100, Fe, (0 <= y <= 11) seed layer on the magnetic properties and structure of Co-100, Fe, (0-10 nm)/Fe65Co35 (100 nm) films was studied. It was observed that the texture of Fe65Co35 films changed from ( 110) to (200) on using a Co,Fe, seed layer. The appearance of (200) texture and film growth with less lattice strain improved the soft magnetic properties of FeCo films. A double-layer Co93Fe7 (1 nm)/Fe65Co35 (100 nm) film was obtained with saturation magnetization mu M-0 = 2.4 T, easy-axis cocreivity 1 kA/m, hard-axis cocreivity H-ch = 0.2 kA/m and anisotropy field H-K = 6.4 kA/m. (c) 2005 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA. Weinheim.