Magnetic anisotropies in SmCo thin films
A systemic study of the deposition processes and magnetic properties for the Sm-Co film system has been carried out. Films of Sm-Co system with various magnetic anisotropies have been synthesized through sputter deposition in both crystalline and amorphous phases. The origins of various anisotropies have been studied. Thermalized sputter deposition process control was used to synthesize Fe enriched Sm-Co films with rhombohedral Th{sub 2}Zn{sub 17} type structure. The film exhibited unusually strong textures with the crystallographic c axes of the crystallites aligned in the film plane. A large anisotropy was resulted with easy axis in the film plane. A well defined and large in-the-film-plane anisotropy of exceptionally high value of 3.3 x 10{sup 6} erg/cm{sup 3} has been obtained in the amorphous SmCo films by applying a magnetic field in the film plane during deposition. It was found that the in-the-film-plane anisotropy depended essentially on the applied field and Sm concentration. For films not synthesized through thermallized sputtering, the easy axis of the film could reoriented. A perpendicular anisotropy was also presented in the film synthesized through thermallized sputtering deposition. A large in-plane anisotropy was obtained in films deposited above ambient temperatures. It was concluded that the surface induced short range ordering was the origin of the in-the-film-phase anisotropy observed in amorphous film deposited in the presence of a magnetic field. The formation mechanism was different from that of the short range ordering induced by field annealing. The perpendicular anisotropy was shown to be growth induced. Large in-plane anisotropy in amorphous films was resulted form partial crystallization in the film. Both the formation of growth induced structure and partial crystallization in the film prevented the formation of the pair ordering and decreased in-the-film-plane anisotropy.
- Research Organization:
- City Univ. of New York, NY (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 121189
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: TH: Thesis (Ph.D.); PBD: 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Direct synthesis and optimization of Fe based rare earth transition metal permanent magnet systems: Progress report, August 1, 1987-March 31, 1988
Magnetic anisotropy in SmCo amorphous films