Effect of fabrication parameters on the microstructure, in-plane anisotropy and magnetostriction of Fe-Ga thin films

• DOI: 10.1007/s12598-010-0174-4
• Publication Date: 2010-11-19T14:13:26Z
• Authors: Bowen Wang; Wenmei Huang; Shuying Cao; Yong Du; Yuehui He; Baiyun Huang
• Keywords: 0103 physical sciences; 01 natural sciences

The microstructure, in-plane anisotropy, and magnetic properties of Fe-Ga thin films were investigated by X-ray diffraction analysis, vibrating sample magnetometer, and capacitive cantilever method. The in-plane induced anisotropy is well formed by the applied magnetic field during sputtering, and the anisotropy field H k decreases with the sputtering power increasing. The coercivity of Fe-Ga thin films decreases with increasing power when the sputtering power is less than 60 W and increases when the power is larger than 60 W. The magnetostriction of the thin films reaches 66 × 10−6 at the sputtering power of 60 W. Excellent Fe-Ga films, which exhibit good field sensitivity, low coercivity and high magnetostriction, have been fabricated at the power of 60 W, and they can be used as the materials of magnetostrictive transducers.