The effects of the thickness of magnetically hard- and soft-phase layers on magnetic properties and exchange coupling in multilayer magnets

Authors

• W. Liu, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• Yucheng Sui, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• J. Zhou, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• X.K. Sun, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research and International Center for Materials Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
• C.L. Chen, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research and International Center for Materials Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
• Z.D. Zhang, Shenyang National Laboratory for Materials Science, Institute of Metal Research and International Center for Materials Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, People's Republic of China
• David J. Sellmyer, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

5-15-2005

Comments

Published by American Institute of Physics. J. Applied Physics 97, 10K303 (2005). ©2005 American Institute of Physics. Permission to use. http://jap.aip.org/jap/.

Abstract

The structure and magnetic properties of multilayer magnets containing a hard phase [HP≡ (Nd_0.95Dy_0.05)(Fe,Co,Nb,B) _5.5] and a soft phase (SP≡Fe and Fe₆₅Co₃₅) have been investigated. For the nanocomposite multilayer of Si(substrate)/Ti(30 nm)/[HP(x nm)/SP(y nm)] n/Ti(30 nm), the remanence enhancement has been observed at different thickness and volume fractions of hard- and soft-phase layers. The remanence increases and the coercivity decreases with the addition of soft phase, in comparison with the results of the single-layer film. For the multilayer of Si(substrate)/Ti(30 nm)/[HP(15 nm)/Fe(5 nm)] n/Ti(30 nm) annealed at 575 °C for 30 min, the coercivity of the multilayer reaches a maximum at n=20. Effects of the layer thickness and volume fraction of hard- and soft-phase layers on magnetic properties and exchange coupling in the multilayer films have been observed.