Impact of Argon Pressure Maintained During the Sputter-Growth of Co60fe20b20 Alloy Thin Films on the Magnetic Properties

The thin films of amorphous ferromagnet Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 have been accepted as a promising material for switching applications in spintronics. The choice of different growth parameters employed in the growth of Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 films can, however, significantly influence the structural, topographical, electron-transport, magneto-optic, and magnetization dynamic properties of the Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 thin films. In this study, we have thoroughly investigated the influence of Argon gas working pressure ( ) employed during sputtering of Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 thin films grown on Si substrate at room temperature. The longitudinal magneto-optic Kerr effect measurements indicate that all films exhibit uniaxial anisotropy caused by the self-steering effect arising due to the oblique angle deposition. The coercive field, which is found to be sensitive to during growth, reached a minimum value of 1.2 mT at 1.1 mTorr. The ferromagnetic resonance measurements revealed that has a direct impact on the inhomogeneous linewidth, anisotropy, and the Gilbert damping constant . The lowest value of ~ is observed in films sputtered at = 1.1 mTorr with negligible inhomogeneity and low anisotropy . The observed value of damping is better than the reported values in Co x Fe y B z , which stems from the unique composition of our Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 and Ar gas treatment. At this optimum value of , the surface roughness of the films exhibits the smallest value of 4.1 . The observed changes in the static and dynamic magnetization properties in these Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 films on varying the are correlated to the growth-rate-dependent changes in internal stress in the film. The present results highlight the crucial correlation of the with the film’s surface roughness, coercivity, and magnetization dynamics parameters. The choice of the value of Argon-pressure employed during sputtering of Co 60 Fe 20 B 20 films at room temperature is thus demonstrated as the simplest control parameter for tuning the quality and magnetic properties of CFB thin films which will eventually lead to development of spintronic devices with the desired dynamic properties for switching applications