Heat-treatment effect on microstructure and magnetic properties of sputtered CoCr films

Abstract
Heat‐treatment effects on the saturation magnetization Ms, the coercivity Hc, and the perpendicular anisotropy Ku of CoCr films with rather low Hc were investigated. Heat treatment up to 450 °C caused interdiffusion of Co and Cr atoms in a compositionally modulated film, resulting in reduction of Ms. On the other hand, heat treatment at 500 °C increased Ms, Hc, and Ku, which was interpreted to be the segregation of nonmagnetic alloy. Measurement of the temperature dependence of Ms supported this interpretation. Heat treatment at 500 °C seemed to have the similar effect on microstructure in a film to substrate heating during deposition. From KuMs curves, the packing density of the ferromagnetic region in heat‐treated films was estimated to be 77% of that in as‐sputtered ones.

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