The effect of heat treatment on the FeCo phase in Tb-Fe-Co thin films

Abstract

Investigation of the magnetic behavior of nanostructured Tb-Fe-Co thin films before and after heat treatment below and above Fe-Co phase crystallization temperature has explored by electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), temperature-dependent resistivity, magnetization (MOKE), magneto-resistivity, and Hall resistivity measurements. The thin films are composed of fine crystallites (from 10 to 75 nm) after heat treatment around the FeCo phase crystallization temperature obtained from XRD and SEM measurements. The nanostructured thin films show the unique perpendicular magnetic properties in the out-ofplane direction around the room temperature. The maximum squareness ratio value of as-deposited thin film with 10 nm crystallite size is 0.98, and the maximum coercive field value of 400 degrees C thin film with 60 nm crystallite size is 3897 Oe. Our findings offer a different perspective for synthesizing the nanostructured TbFe-Co thin films for promising applications in the magnetic sensor technologies. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.