Coercivity in amorphous Tb{endash}Fe alloys

Journal Article · Thu Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1999 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.370845· OSTI ID:354507

Hellman, F; Messer, M; Abarra, E N ^[1]

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1. Department of Physics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92037 (United States)

The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, coercive field, and initial magnetization curves of amorphous Tb{sub x}Fe{sub 1{minus}x} ({ital x} between 0.15 and 0.32) were measured at room temperature for samples prepared under a wide variety of preparation conditions, including both {ital e}-beam co-evaporation and dc magnetron cosputtering. The effect of growth temperature, annealing, and thickness were investigated. The perpendicular magnetic anisotropy shows little dependence on substrate type, sample thickness, or details of the deposition such as sputtering or {ital e}-beam evaporation, but is strongly dependent on growth temperature, increasing with increasing growth temperature up to nearly 300&hthinsp;{degree}C. Coercivity on the other hand is extremely dependent on microstructure, and hence, on details of preparation, substrate type, and thickness. It is much larger in evaporated films than in similarly prepared dc magnetron sputtered films. Normalized coercivity decreases monotonically with increasing growth temperature. The dominant mechanism appears to be domain wall pinning in the bulk of the film due to columnar microstructure. High growth temperature stabilizes the material against subsequent annealing which tends to eliminate the anisotropy and, more slowly, the coercivity. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}

• OSTI ID: 354507
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 86; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANISOTROPY
COERCIVE FORCE
DOMAIN STRUCTURE
ENERGY BEAM DEPOSITION
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
GROWTH
IRON ALLOYS
SPUTTERING
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
TERBIUM ALLOYS
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS