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Magnetic and structural analysis of sputtered Co90Fe10/Au multilayer films for magnetic recording applications

S. CAKMAKTEPE1, S. DIKEN2,*

Affiliation

  1. Department of Science Education, Kilis 7 Aralık University, 79000 Kilis, Turkey
  2. Department of Physics, Kilis 7 Aralık University, 79000 Kilis, Turkey

Abstract

This paper presents the results of investigation on deposition and characterization of cobalt iron (Co90Fe10) thin films onto gold (Au) underlayers. Co90Fe10/Au films with different Au underlayer thickness (6, 10, 20, 30 nm) were deposited onto silicon (Si) (100) substrates at room temperature by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering. Hysteresis curves along hard axis on magneto-optical Kerr effect (MOKE) graphs indicate that 6 nm Au underlayer decreases coercivity (Hc) of Co90Fe10 film from 37 Oe to 6 Oe. As the remanent magnetization (Mr) decreases, saturation magnetization (Ms) remains relatively high with 6 nm Au underlayer. In addition, grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction (GI-XRD) results confirmed that Co90Fe10 layer has body-centered cubic (bcc) structure and (110)-oriented texturing. Particle size of the films varied in the range from 107 Å to 46 Å. Furthermore; it is observed that XRD peaks shift towards lower angles with the increasing Au underlayer thickness. Finally, magnetic force microscopy (MFM) images demonstrate dramatic changes in domain structure and confirm MOKE results. These results suggest that Co90Fe10/Au thin films are promising candidates as write head materials for magnetic recording applications in information technology..

Keywords

CoFe thin films, Au underlayer, Soft magnetic materials, Write heads.

Submitted at: July 7, 2015
Accepted at: Feb. 10, 2016

Citation

S. CAKMAKTEPE, S. DIKEN, Magnetic and structural analysis of sputtered Co90Fe10/Au multilayer films for magnetic recording applications, Journal of Optoelectronics and Advanced Materials Vol. 18, Iss. 1-2, pp. 107-111 (2016)