Magnetic and structural investigation of heat treated ion beam sputtered amorphous Co₇₄Fe₆B₁₅Si₅ films

V. G. Harris, Northeastern University
S. A. Oliver, Northeastern University
W. B. Nowak, Northeastern University
C. Vittoria, Northeastern University
R. J. Culbertson, U.S. Army Materials Technology Laboratory
W. T. Elam, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
K. H. Kim, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

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Originally published in IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, 1990, pp.1459-1461 September 1990. doi: 10.1109/20.104410

Abstract

As-deposited and annealed specimens of ion beam sputtered amorphous Co₇₄Fe₆B₁₅Si₅ thin films were examined to explore the correlation between changes in magnetic properties and atomic structure. Specimens were characterized magnetically, by traditional ac and dc techniques and structurally, via conversion-electron extended x-ray absorption fine structure analysis. Results show significant ordering of the higher order atomic shells around the transition metal ions well below the crystallization temperature. This ordering evolves into a body- centered-cubic configuration around both the Co and Fe ions. Increases in nearest neighbor peak positions in the EXAFS Fourier transforms were observed to correlate with increasing annealing temperatures. Evidence is presented for the role of the ordering in the observed magnetic changes, but the details remain unclear.