Comparison of the soft magnetic properties of permalloy and conetic thin films

The soft magnetic properties of the substrate/[non-buffer or buffer Ta]/[permalloy (Ni₈₀Fe₂₀) or conetic (Ni₇₇Fe₁₄Cu₅Mo₄)]/Ta prepared by ion beam sputter deposition are investigated. The value of the surface resistance of the conetic film is twice as high as that of the permalloy film. The value of the coercivity and magnetic susceptibility of the conetic film decreased by 25% and doubled relative to that of the permalloy film. The coercivity, with a value of 0.12 Oe, and the magnetic susceptibility, with a value of 1.2×10⁴ for the conetic film, are suitable for soft magnetic biosensor applications.     

Effect of substrate roughness on the domain structure of permalloy

The effect of substrate roughness on the magnetic properties of a permalloy film is studied. It is shown theoretically that an anisotropic distribution of roughness leads to effective anisotropy in the plane of the film.     

Magnetic properties of permalloy multilayers with alternating perpendicular anisotropies

This work reports the magnetic properties of sputtered permalloy (Ni₈₀Fe₂₀) multilayers grown changing the anisotropy direction 90° in successive layers. Magnetic measurements show how the saturating field can be controlled by the thickness ratio between different anisotropy layers and how the coercive field is reduced increasing the number of layers. The linearity of the hysteresis loop is also improved when increasing the number of layers. Magnetic measurements are compared to simulations based on a Stoner-Wolfarth magnetization rotation mechanism.     

Magnetoresistive Fe19Ni81/Tb-Co medium with an internal magnetic bias

The magnetization reversal and magnetoresistance of two-layer exchange-coupled Fe19Ni81/Tb-Co films are studied. Amorphous Tb _x Co_{100 − x} layers with 30 < x < 35 are found to have a uniaxial magnetic anisotropy and a rather high coercive force, which ensures magnetic biasing of the adjacent permalloy layers. In addition, the permalloy layers subjected to selective annealing exhibit a significant anisotropic magnetoresistance and a small magnetic hysteresis. These properties make it possible to consider the developed film structure as an effective magnetoresistive medium. This structure is used to form magnetic sensor samples that have an odd transfer function in the absence of external magnetic biasing.     

RF-photon induced Mössbauer satellites in permalloy

The Mössbauer spectra of a permalloy film placed in an rf magnetic field are measured. The film is so thin that transverse magnetostriction oscillations are not excited in it. This permits the observation of satellites that are due solely to periodic variations of the magnetic field at the nucleus. The data are in good agreement with calculations performed in the model of step-wise field reversals. On application of an additional static magnetic field the splitting of the satellites is observed, as predicted by the model of asymmetric step-wise field reversals.     

Dynamic response of permalloy/Cu/Co magnetoresistive sandwiches

The dynamic response of trilayer magnetoresistive permalloy/Cu/Co films was studied by high-frequency permeability spectra measurements. The resonance frequency is shown to depend on the interlayer copper thickness. This dependence is related to exchange coupling between permalloy and cobalt and the interaction field is estimated using the Landau–Lifschitz–Gilbert model.     

Peculiarities of permalloy thin film microcore hysteretic magnetization process in high space resolution fluxgate device

Magnetization processes of the sectioned thin film permalloy core were examined in relation with its geometrical dimensions using magnetooptical Kerr technique and ferrofluid observation. It is shown quantitatively the intermediate case between Stoner–Wohlfarth and zero internal field contradicting models takes place. Ferrofluid investigation had shown the stable quasi-saturated state with closing domain structures at permalloy bar edges. Magnetization reversal occurs by hysteretic manner but the hysteresis loop parameters are reproducible and depend strongly upon core geometry. Hysteresis is characterized by parallelogram form with clear critical field and loop slope depending on bars dimensions and their mutual position in array. Loop shape approaches the rectangular form and critical field increases if bar thickness t, width w and bar density in array are decreased. The critical field value H_cr is defined by demagnetizing field at bar edges while the saturation field H_s depends only on width w at of a bar in array. Variation of the bar form or shift of every second bar in array possesses to increase the core thickness to enhance the stray field without increase of the saturating exciting current. The core described can be used with magnetooptical garnet film or Hall sensor in fluxgate regime for magnetic field measurement with space resolution 10–100 mcm.     

MFM imaging of micron-sized permalloy ellipses

The magnetic domain structure of micron-sized elliptic permalloy elements has been studied by magnetic force microscope (MFM) measurements, and has been compared to results from micromagnetic simulations. The elements all have the same aspect ratio, whereas the inter-elemental distance has been varied. Both the zero-field states and in field domain configurations have been studied. In zero-applied field, two different stable flux-closure states were found in both the MFM measurements and in the simulations. The different stable domain states occur as a result of minute differences in the local magnetic environment occurring during the demagnetization process.     

坡莫合金磁阻传感器的特性研究和应用

介绍了坡莫合金型磁阻传感器的结构与工作原理，研究了该传感器的特性，并用它测量了地磁场的主要参量。设计了一个消除此类磁阻传感器受强磁场干扰的电路，有利于坡莫合金集成磁阻器件的推广应用。     

Magnetization in permalloy thin films

Thin films of permalloy (Ni₈₀Fe₂₀) were prepared using an Ar+N₂ mixture with magnetron sputtering technique at ambient temperature. The film prepared with only Ar gas shows reflections corresponding to the permalloy phase in X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern. The addition of nitrogen during sputtering results in broadening of the peaks in XRD pattern, which finally leads to an amorphous phase. The M-H loop for the sample prepared with only Ar gas is matching well with the values obtained for the permalloy. For the samples prepared with increased nitrogen partial pressure the magnetic moment decreased rapidly and the values of coercivity increased. The polarized neutron reflectivity measurements (PNR) were performed in the sample prepared with only Ar gas and with nitrogen partial pressure of 5 and 10%. It was found that the spin-up and spin-down reflectivities show exactly similar reflectivity for the sample prepared with Ar gas alone, while PNR measurements on 5 and 10% sample show splitting in the spin-up and spin-down reflectivity.      

NiFeNb种子层对坡莫合金磁滞回线的影响

以NiFeNb为种子层，制备(Ni₇₉Fe₂₁)_1-xNb_{x(5nm)/(Ni79Fe21) (20nm)/Ta(3nm)系列膜，并对其颗粒大小、 磁滞回线及表面粗糙度等进行测量，探讨种子层中Nb含量x对坡莫合金磁滞回线的影响.结果 表明，以NiFeNb作种子层能更好地改善坡莫合金的微结构. Nb含量为23％时的磁滞回线有最 小的最大磁能积、矫顽力.种子层影响坡莫合金磁滞回线的一个重要原因是脱附激活能等因 素造成种子层具有不同的表面粗糙度，进而使坡莫合金具有不同的微结构和磁性能. 关键词： NiFeNb种子层 坡莫合金 磁滞回线 粗糙度}     

Anisotropy of magnetooptical response of nanoperforated permalloy films

The azimuthal anisotropy of the linear and nonlinear magnetooptical Kerr effect has been studied for a structure that is an ordered array with 420-nm-diameter pores in a 30-nm-thick permalloy film on a silicon substrate. The azimuthal anisotropy of the magnetooptical Kerr effect and the coercive force, corresponding to 4 m symmetry of a planar nanopore array, has been established experimentally. The measurements are accompanied with the numerical calculation of the anisotropic magnetization distribution in the structure at different orientations of the applied magnetic field.     

Impedance spectra of thin permalloy films with a nanoisland structure

The behavior of the impedance spectra of island permalloy films prepared through vacuum evaporation onto optically polished glass-ceramic substrates has been investigated in the frequency range from 0.0001 to 100 MHz. A resistor-capacitor model of the films has been developed and the model parameters, for which there is a good agreement with experimental data on the frequency dependences of the real and imaginary components of the impedance, have been determined. The specific features in the behavior of the electrical and physical characteristics with variations in the thickness of the sample and the gap between the measuring electrodes have been investigated. It has been found that the relative permittivity of the films under investigation reaches values ɛ ∼ 10⁷–10⁸. The structural relaxation times have been calculated.     

Stress impedance effect of FeCoSiB/Cu/FeCoSiB sandwich layers on flexible substrate

FeCoSiB/Cu/FeCoSiB sandwich layers were deposited on flexible substrate to develop flexible stress/strain sensors. The influence of stress on the impedance of the multilayers is reported. The results show that the variation of the impedance increases with the increase in deflection of the free end of the cantilever. A relative change in impedance of 6.4% is obtained in the FeCoSiB(1.5 μm)/Cu(0.25 μm)/FeCoSiB(1.5 μm) sandwich layers at 1 MHz with deflection of 2 mm. The stress impedance effects are sensitive to the frequency of the current and the thickness of both FeCoSiB and Cu layers. The stress impedance effect increases with the increase in the thickness of FeCoSiB or Cu layers. The stress impedance effect increases slightly with the increase in frequency and decreases with the further increase in frequency, which can be understood by the stress and frequency-dependent permeability of magnetic films.     

Magnetically actuated bi-directional microactuators with permalloy and Fe/Pt hard magnet

Bi-directional polyimide (PI) electromagnetic microactuator with different geometries are designed, fabricated and tested. Fabrication of the electromagnetic microactuator consists of 10 μm thick Ni/Fe (80/20) permalloy deposition on the PI diaphragm by electroplating, high aspect ratio electroplating of copper planar coil with 10 μm in thickness, bulk micromachining, and excimer laser selective ablation. They were fabricated by a novel concept avoiding the etching selectivity and residual stress problems during wafer etching. A mathematical model is created by ANSYS software to analyze the microactuator. The external magnetic field intensity (H_ext) generated by the planar coil is simulated by ANSYS software. ANSYS software is used to predict the deflection angle of the microactuator. Besides, to provide bi-directional and large deflection angle of microactuator, hard magnet Fe/Pt is deposited at a low temperature of 300 °C by sputtering onto the PI diaphragm to produce a perpendicular magnetic anisotropic field. This magnetic field can enhance the interaction with H_ext to induce attractive and repulsive bi-directional force to provide large displacement. The results of magnetic microactuator with and without hard magnets are compared and discussed. The preliminary result reveals that the electromagnetic microactuator with hard magnet shows a greater deflection angle than that without one.     

Argon and krypton ion-induced changes in permalloy thin films

The effects of 75-keV Ar and 100-keV Kr ion irradiations of 72-nm thin DC-sputtered permalloy (Ni₈₁Fe₁₉) films on Si(100) wafers were studied at fluences of up to 10¹⁶ ions/cm². The changes of the structural and magnetic properties were measured via X-ray diffraction, Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, and magneto-optical Kerr effect. The irradiations increase the lattice constant and improve the crystallinity of the samples. They induce also strong changes of the magnetic polarisation and the coercive field for increasing ion fluence. The hysteresis loops suggest that, with increasing ion fluence, the reversal of the magnetisation changes gradually from rotation-dominated in the as-deposited films to domain-wall-motion dominated at the highest ion fluences. The results are compared with those obtained for Ni-, Cr-and Xe-ion irradiated permalloy films.     

The study of the shape anisotropy in patterned permalloy films

In this paper a systematic ferromagnetic resonance study shows that an in-plane magnetic anisotropy in the patterned micron octagon permalloy (Ni透磁合金;定型薄膜;形状各向异性;铁磁共振patterned film, shape anisotropy, ferromagnetic resonanceProject supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No~50171020) and the Foundation for youth of Liaocheng University (Grant No~X051050).1/5/2007 12:00:00 AMIn this paper a systematic ferromagnetic resonance study shows that an in-plane magnetic anisotropy in the patterned micron octagon permalloy （Ni80Fe20） elements is mainly determined by the element geometry. The easy-axis is along the edge of the elements, and the hard-axis is along the diagonal. The shape anisotropy of the octagon elements is determined by square and equilateral octagon, and the theoretical calculation was studied on the shape anisotropy. The shape anisotropy of rectangular was calculated by using the same theory.     

Magnetism in very thin films of permalloy measured by spin polarized cascade electrons

The spin polarizationP of the low energy cascade electrons excited with a primary unpolarized electron beam is measured with ultrathin films of permalloy (Ni₈₀Fe₂₀) as a function of film thickness, external magnetic field, and temperatureT. Surface adsorbates of small concentrations of less than 10% of a monolayer can change the Curie point and the saturation value ofP ₀(T0) by as much as 30%. The Ta-substrate induces a magnetically dead region in permalloy. Conventional spin wave theory cannot account for the observed smallT-dependence of the magnetizationM. Films on a nonmagnetic substrate are compared to similar films coupled to bulk permalloy over an interface of Ta. TheT-dependence ofM with the coupled films can be explained by spin wave theory. At lowT, the films coupled to the bulk exhibit a faster decrease ofM than the uncoupled films. We propose that this thermal stabilization of the magnetization in very thin ferromagnetic films is due to quenching of the long wavelength spin modes.     

Synthesis and characterization of electrodeposited permalloy (Ni80Fe20)/Cu multilayered nanowires

Permalloy (Ni₈₀Fe₂₀)/Cu multilayered nanowires (NWs) were electrodeposited using a template directed method from sulfate baths via pulse potential technique. Microstructures and compositions of the nanowires were characterized using various microscopy and spectroscopy techniques. To synthesize compositionally uniform nanowires with high efficiency, new sulfate baths with a high content of Ni²⁺ were developed. The effects of deposition potential and concentration of metal ions were optimized to reduce composition inhomogeneity and incorporation of copper in the permalloy layers. Composition of the NiFe layers was found to be close to 20 at% Fe with a maximum of 5 at% Cu. TEM analysis indicated that individual nanowires exhibit distinct and coherent layering structure with rough and wavy interfaces. A synthesized single nanowire was also AC dielectrophoretically assembled across the microfabricated gold electrodes for subsequent magnetoresistance measurements.     

Local anodization of permalloy film by atomic force microscope

Local anodization on a permalloy (_Ni80Fe20)${\mathrm{Ni}}_{80}{\mathrm{Fe}}_{20})$ thin film by an atomic force microscope (AFM) in air was studied. Fabrication of uniform structure on the permalloy film was difficult in comparison with that on a Si(1 0 0) substrate. On the permalloy film, threshold voltage for the AFM anodization increased until 3 h after exposure to air. With passage of time, I–V$I–V$ curves on the permalloy film also changed from metallic behavior to insulating one. In addition, I–V$I–V$ curves varied at positions on the permalloy film. The oxide layer with time- and position-dependencies can induce non-uniform structure in AFM anodization. However, uniformity of structure was able to be improved by using method of fabrication of dots.