Sputtered ductile amorphous Fe80B20 foils

Ductile amorphous foils of Fe₈₀B₂₀ have been sputter-deposited. We report here the results of structural and magnetic studies on these samples. Structural analysis shows slight differences between amorphous foils and ribbons. From the high-field measurements (H<15 T) the magnetic moment of Fe is estimated as 2.1±0.02 at 4.2 K in agreement with the value reported for ribbons. However, the magnetization is less temperature dependent in the foil, as compared to the ribbon. This result would indicate a lesser fluctuation in the exchange integralJ and hence lesser variations in the local environment of Fe. Finally the thermal stability is shown to be higher in the foils. It is suggested that sputtering technique could be used to prepare amorphous foils of large area for certain applications.