Induced magnetic anisotropy in permalloy films annealed with magnetic field

Abstract

The effect of magnetic annealing on Fe21Ni79 films was investigated through the characterization of crystal structure and magnetic properties. Fe21Ni79 films were deposited on thermally oxidized Si substrates using a DC magnetron sputter. A highly a-axis oriented Fe21Ni79 film was grown on Si substrate by magnetic annealing. Columnar grain growth was dominant in the films annealed with magnetic field. Both the area surrounded by hysteresis curve, and coercivity, were increased by magnetic annealing, indicating that the magnetic annealing induced the anisotropy energy. Through EXAFS analysis, 1.19x10(-3) was obtained as the strain of a specimen annealed with magnetic field. This value confirmed that induced magnetic anisotropy was formed by atomic pair ordering.