Effect of film thickness on magnetic properties of Cr/SmCo/Cr films

• Published in: Journal of rare earths 2012-05, Vol.30 (5), p.446-449
• Main Author: 李宁 李宝河 冯春 李明华 于广华
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chromium; coercivity; Demagnetization; Deposition; Diffraction; Film thickness; Grain size; Magnetic properties; permanent magnet; Rare earth metals; rare earths; reversal behavior; SmCo film; X-射线衍射; 磁学性质; 磁控溅射沉积; 薄膜厚度; 钐; 钴; 铬薄膜; 饱和磁化强度
• ISSN: 1002-0721; 2509-4963
• DOI: 10.1016/S1002-0721(12)60070-2

Cr/SmCo/Cr films with different SmCo thickness were deposited on glass substrates by magnetron sputtering,followed by an annealing process at 550 °C for 20 min.Experimental results showed that the SmCo film of 30 nm exhibited two-phase behavior in the demagnetization process,the obvious kink was observed near zero.For the SmCo film of 50 nm,the kink was invisible,and a single phase like behavior was obtained in the demagnetization process.The reversal behavior became consistent in the thicker films.Moreover,the coercivity reduced and the saturated magnetization increased obviously with the increasing thickness.X-ray diffraction results indicated that the average grain size of SmCo 5 in the thicker films were almost 30 nm,but the quantity of SmCo 5 grains increased with the increasing thickness,which enhanced the intergrain exchange coupling（IEC） of the SmCo 5 hard phases.The increase of IEC improved the magnetic properties of SmCo films with increasing thickness.