Combinatorial study of Fe-Co-V hard magnetic thin films

Thin film libraries of Fe-Co-V were fabricated by combinatorial sputtering to study magnetic and structural properties over wide ranges of composition and thickness by high-throughput methods: synchrotron X-ray diffraction, magnetometry, composition, and thickness were measured across the Fe-Co-V libraries. In-plane magnetic hysteresis loops were shown to have a coercive field of 23.9 kA m–1 (300 G) and magnetization of 1000 kA m–1. The out-of-plane direction revealed enhanced coercive fields of 207 kA m–1 (2.6 kG) which was attributed to the shape anisotropy of column grains observed with electron microscopy. Angular dependence of the switching field showed that the magnetization reversal mechanism is governed by 180° domain wall pinning. In the thickness-dependent combinatorial study, co-sputtered composition spreads had a thickness ranging from 50 to 500 nm and (Fe70Co30)100-xVx compositions of x = 2–80. Comparison of high-throughput magneto-optical Kerr effect and traditional vibrating sample magnetometer measurements show agreement of trends in coercive fields across large composition and thickness regions.