Tunable giant magnetic anisotropy in amorphous SmCo thin films

Journal Article · Mon Apr 22 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4802908· OSTI ID:22162857

Magnus, F.; Moubah, R.; Roos, A. H.; Kapaklis, V.; Hjoervarsson, B.; Andersson, G. ^[1]; Kruk, A. ^[2]; Hase, T. ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, Box 530, 751 21 Uppsala (Sweden)
2. AGH University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Metals Engineering and Industrial Computer Science, PL-30-059 Krakow (Poland)
3. Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

SmCo thin films have been grown by magnetron sputtering at room temperature with a composition of 2-35 at. % Sm. Films with 5 at. % or higher Sm are amorphous and smooth. A giant tunable uniaxial in-plane magnetic anisotropy is induced in the films which peaks in the composition range 11-22 at. % Sm. This cross-over behavior is not due to changes in the atomic moments but rather the local configuration changes. The excellent layer perfection combined with highly tunable magnetic properties make these films important for spintronics applications.

• OSTI ID: 22162857
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 16; Other Information: (c) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
AMORPHOUS STATE
ANISOTROPY
COBALT ALLOYS
CONFIGURATION
DEPOSITION
LAYERS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MAGNETRONS
SAMARIUM ALLOYS
SPUTTERING
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0273-0400 K
THIN FILMS