Microstructure and magnetic properties of Ta/Ni81Fe19/Ta tri-layer thin films on mono-like cast silicons

Abstract The microstructure and magnetic properties of Ta/Ni81Fe19/Ta tri-layer thin films on three types of mono-like cast silicon substrates (flat, upright pyramid and inverted pyramid surfaces) were investigated. Results show that the surface topography structures of the films followed those of the substrates generally. But the thickness of the film on pyramid surface increases from the pyramid tip to the bottom. This is caused by the anisotropical diffusion of incident atoms/ions on the pyramid surfaces during the film growth process. The films on pyramid structured substrates have smaller saturation magnetizations but larger in-plane coercivity than that of on the flat substrate. This should be mainly caused by the non-zero angle between the magnetic field and the substrates as suggested by the angular dependent magnetic properties of the films. The hysteresis loops measured from in-plane to out-of-plane directions show that the coercivities of films on all the mono-like cast silicons are highly angular dependent. A further post-annealing of the films suggests that the magnetic properties of the films are dominantly determined by the surface microstructure of substrates instead of the fabrication conditions. The above results can help better integration of NiFe thin films on mono-like cast silicon based devices.