Study of the magnetic anisotropy of amorphous Fe1−xSix deposited by magnetron sputtering

Abstract The dependence of the magnetic anisotropy of amorphous iron silicide thin films with Si concentration has been investigated. Their anisotropy energies had values above 10 4 erg/cm 3 with coercive fields below 1 Oe. Their easy magnetic axis was always contained in the plane of the substrate. Their orientation in the plane changed depending on the Si atom concentration. EXAFS spectroscopy was used to understand the correlation between the local environment of the Fe atoms and the magnetic anisotropy of the films.