Magnetically soft and high‐saturation‐magnetization FeCo films fabricated by co‐sputtering

Magnetically soft FeCo films with high saturation magnetization were successfully obtained by co‐sputtering Fe65Co35films onto a very thin Co93Fe7seed layer. The coercivity of single FeCo films on the substrate was markedly reduced by increasing the deposition temperature and appropriately selecting the composition. The effect of composition and thickness of a high‐Co‐concentration Co100–yFey(0 ≤y≤ 11) seed layer on the magnetic properties and structure of Co100–yFey(0–10 nm)/Fe65Co35(100 nm) films was studied. It was observed that the texture of Fe65Co35films changed from (110) to (200) on using a Co100–yFeyseed layer. The appearance of (200) texture and film growth with less lattice strain improved the soft magnetic properties of FeCo films. A double‐layer Co93Fe7(1 nm)/Fe65Co35(100 nm) film was obtained with saturation magnetizationμ0Ms= 2.4 T, easy‐axis coercivityHce= 1 kA/m, hard‐axis coercivityHch= 0.2 kA/m and anisotropy fieldHK= 6.4 kA/m. (© 2005 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)