Soft Magnetic Properties and Damping Parameter of (FeCo)-Al Alloy Thin Films

Abstract

For high frequency device applications, a systematic study of the soft magnetic properties and magnetization dynamics of (FeCo)-Al alloy thin films has been carried out. A low effective damping parameter αeff of 0.002 and a high saturation magnetization of about 1,800 emu/cc are obtained at y=0.2∼0.3 for (Fe1-yCoy)98Al2 alloy thin films deposited onto fused silica and MgO(100) at an ambient temperature during deposition. Those films are of the bcc structure with the <110> orientation normal to the film plane. They possess a columnar structure, grown along the film normal. The column width is found to be about 20 nm for y=0.25. It is concluded that the (FeCo)-Al thin films with a damping parameter as low as 0.002 and high saturation magnetization of about 1,800 emu/cc have been successfully fabricated, and that they are potential for future high frequency device applications.