Magnetic and structural properties of Sm₂Fe₁₀Co₇/M_xC_y thin films

Authors

I.A. Al-Omari, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
N. J. Cunningham, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
David J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

9-1-1997

Comments

Published by IEEE; IEEE Trans. Mag. 33, 3850 (1997). ©1997 IEEE. Permission to use. http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/

Abstract

The structural and magnetic properties of Sm₂Fe₁₀Co₇/M_xC_y (M=A1 and Si; x≥0 and y≥0) multilayer films with Ta underlayers and overlayers before and after annealing at 700 °C for 5-12 min have been fabricated and studied. Structural studies show evidence of layer diffusion upon annealing. X-ray diffraction shows that the samples after annealing consist of a soft phase, α -Fe, and a hard phase with the 2-17-type structure. The samples studied have in-plane anisotropy with single hysteresis loops indicating that the two phases are strongly exchange coupled. After annealing, the coercivity of samples with Al_xC_y is found to increase with increasing Al_xC_y composition to a maximum of 3.3 kOe. The energy products for these samples are found to increase from 1.4 MGOe for SmFeCo to 8 MGOe for SmFeCo with Al_xC_y.