Electrodeposited Thin Feco Films With Highly Thermal Stable Properties In High Frequency Range Obtained By Annealing In A Strong Magnetic Field

The preparation of thin ferromagnetic films with thermally stable properties in the high frequency gigahertz range is crucial for applications in different advanced devices. However, it is a challenge to attain such films as the mechanism and correlation between the crystallographic structure and dynamic magnetic properties remain unclear. Herein, through an appropriate annealing process involving a temperature of 510-580K and an applied strong magnetic field of 10 kOe along the easy-axis of electrodeposited FeCo films, magnetic properties of the films (300-450 nm) in the gigahertz range are significantly improved. Typically, the magnetic soft nanofilms display highly stable dynamic microwave properties from room temperature to 420 K, even in the presence of a high frequency of similar to 1.5 GHz and a large magnetic permeability of similar to 460 (the maximum value in real part). The origin of the high thermal stability is attributed to the recrystallized uniformity in crystalline orientations and larger particle sizes after the annealing, which leads to slightly increased anisotropy, stress, Curie temperature, and difference in the magnetic coercivity between the easy and hard axes for the crystalline films, thus giving rise to the steady static magnetic properties (e.g., magnetic moment of 2.02-2.05 T) against environmental temperature fluctuation. This is in contrast to conventional as-prepared thin films without annealing or annealed in a transverse applied field. This method can be applied to other ferromagnetic films to improve their thermal stability for the utilization in various high frequency devices. Published by AIP Publishing.