• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.89-94
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• 2004

We have investigated magnetic properties of monolayer (ML)-thickness Co film deposited on InP(2${\times}$4) reconstruction surface using in situ Surface Magneto-Optical Kerr Effects (SMOKE) measurement system. InP(2${\times}$4) reconstruction surface, obtained by repeated sputtering and annealing, was confirmed by reflection hish energy electron diffraction (RHEED) and scanning tunneling microscope (STM) measurements. From both longitudinal and polar SMOKE measurements, we have observed three distinguishable regions showing different magnetic properties depending on the Co thickness. In the Co film thickness smaller than 7 $m\ell$, no SMOKE signal was detected. In the following thickness between 8 $m\ell$ and 15 $m\ell$, both longitudinal and polar Kerr hysteresis loops were observed, which implies a metastable phase coexisted of in-plane and perpendicular anisotropies. In the film thickness larger than 16 $m\ell$, only longitudinal MOKE signal without polar signal was detected, which implies existence of in-plane anisotropy in this thickness region.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.237-242
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• 1997

The microstructure and soft magnetic properties of as-deposited Fe-Hf-O thin film alloys, which are produced at $P_{O2}=10%$ by rf magnetron sputtering method in $Ar+O_2$ mixed gas atmosphere, is investigated. Newly developed $Fe_{82}Hf_{3.4}O_{14.6}$ film exhibits good soft magnetic properties with $4{\pi}M_s=17.7$ kG, $H_c=0.7$ Oe and ${\mu}_{eff}$(0.5~100MHz)=2,500, respectively. The Fe-Hf-O films are composed of $\alpha$-Fe nanograins and amorphous phase with larger amounts of Hf and O elements which chemically combine each other. With increasing Hf area fraction, Hf and O contents increased proportionally. It was considered that O content in films was determined by Hf contents, because O was chemically combined with Hf. It results from decreasing the $\alpha$-Fe grain size by precipitates (Hf and O), high electrical resistivity. The $Fe_{82}Hf_{3.4}O_{14.6}$ film exhibits the quality factor (Q=$\mu$'/$\mu$") of 25 at 20 MHz. These good frequency characteristics are considered to be superior to other films already reported.o other films already reported.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 1999

The effects of annealing in rotating magnetic field after deposition on electromagnetic properties of $Co_{82}Zr_6Mo_{12}$ thin (200~1200 $\AA$) films prepared by RF-magnetron sputtering were investigated in terms of microstructure and surface morphology. The coercivity decreases, but $4{\pi}M_5$ does not change with increasing the film thickness. The coercivity of the films was decreased below 300 $^{\circ}C$ due to stress relief and decreasing the surface roughness, while increased at 400 $^{\circ}C$ due to partial grain growth. And then, $4{\rho}M_5$ was almost independent of annealing temperatures below 200 $^{\circ}C$, but increased from 7.4 kG to 8.0 kG at 300 $^{\circ}C$ and at 400 $^{\circ}C$, which was caused by precipitation and growth of fine Co particles in the films. The electrical resistivity of films was decreased with increasing annealing temperatures and the magnetoresistance was a negative value of nearly 0 $\mu$$\Omega$cm. After annealing at 300 $^{\circ}C$, maximum effective permeability was 1200 to the hard axis of the thin films according to high frequency change. Considering the practical application of biasing layers of the films for magnetoresistive heads, optimal annealing conditions was obtained after one hour annealing at 300 $^{\circ}C$ in 400 Oe rotating magnetic field.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.159-163
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• 2000

MR characteristics in magnetic tunnel junction using CoO as the oxide barrier were investigated. Spin-dependent tunnel junctions were fabricated on 4$\^$o/ tilt-cut (111)Si substrates in 3-gun magnetron sputtering system. The top and bottom ferromagnetic electrodes were Ni$\_$80/Fe$\_$20/(300 $\AA$) and Co(300 $\AA$), respectively. The oxide barriers (CoO) were formed by the thermal oxidation at room temperature in an O$_2$ atmosphere and the plasma oxidation. The increase of coercive field due to antiferromagnetic-ferromagnetic coupling has been observed in O$_2$plasma-oxidized CoO based junctions at room temperature. At a sensing current of 1 mA, MR ratios of O$_2$plasma-oxidized CoO based junction and thermal-oxidized CoO based junction at room temperature were 1% and 5%, respectively. Larger MR ratios are observed in magnetic tunnel juctions with thermal oxidized CoO when sensing current more than applied 1.5 mA. At a sensing current of 1.5 mA, we have observed MR value of 28 % and specific resistance (RA=R$\times$A) value of 10.9 ㏀$\times$㎛$^2$. When specific resistance values reached 2.28 ㏀$\times$㎛$^2$, we have observed that MR ratios become as high as 120%.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.7 no.5
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• pp.265-273
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• 1997

The MR ratios and the exchange biasing field and interlayer coupling field were investigated in $Ni_{91}Fe_{19}/Co_{90}Fe_{10}/Cu/Co_{90}Fe_{10}/NiO$ spin-valve sandwiches grown on antiferromagnetic NiO films as a function of the NiO thickness, the thickness of Cu and pinning layer $Co_{90}Fe_{10}$. The spin-valve sandwiches were deposited on the Corning glass 7059 by means of the 3-gun dc and 1-gun rf magnetron sputtering at a 5 mtorrpartial Ar pressure and room temperature. The deposition field was 50 Oe. The MR curve was measured by the four-terminal method with applied magnetic soft bilayer [NiFe/CoFe] (90$\AA$) decreased dramatically to less than 10 Oe when the NiFe/CoFe bilayer used an NiFe bilayer thicker that 20$\AA$. So NiFe layer improved the softmagnetic properties in the NiFe/CoFe bilayer. The GMR ratio and the magnetic field sensitivity of the spin-valve film $Ni_{91}Fe_{19}(40{\AA})/Co_{90}Fe_{10}(50{\AA}) /Cu(30{\AA})/Co_{90}Fe_{10}(35{\AA})/NiO(800{\AA})$ was 6.3% and about 0.5 (%/Oe), respectively. The MR ratio had 5.3% below an annealing temperature of 20$0^{\circ}C$ which slowly decreased to 3% above 30$0^{\circ}C$. The large blocking temperature of the spin-valve film was taken (as being) due to the good stability of the NiO films. Thus, the spin-valve films with a free NiFe/CoFe layer clearly had a high large GMR output and showed a effective magnetic field sensitivity for a suitable spin-valve head material.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.67-73
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• 2000

Top spin valve samples with a structure Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu/CoFe/FeMn/Ta were deposited on a Si(100) substrate by changing d.c. magnetron sputtering conditions and the exchange-bias and magnetic properties of samples were investigated. The Exchange field, H$\_$ex/ increased with increase of sputtering power of FeMn from 30 to 150 W and CoFe from 30 to 100 W deposited on the Cu, the increase of H$\_$ex/ was found due to the improvement of preferred orientation of (111) FeMn phase from XRD results. In the case of Cu, H$\_$ex/ decreased with the increase of sputtering pressure ranging from 1 to 5 mTorr. The relationship between exchange field and resistance was investigated, spin valve samples with a large exchange field showed the lower resistance, which was strongly dependent on the good crystallinity and grain size increase as well as lower scattering effects. The Cu thickness was changed from 22 to 38 $\AA$ for Si/Ta/NiFe/CoFe/Cu(t), 30 W/CoFe, 100 W/FeMn, 100 W/Ta spin valve structures, MR ratio of 6.5 % and exchange field of about 190 Oe were obtained for the sample with Cu of 22 $\AA$ thickness. The increase of exchange field with decrease of Cu thickness was explained by FM/AFM spin-spin interaction.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.255-262
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• 2003

In this paper, an investigation on the ZnO film deposition using radio-frequency magnetic sputtering techniques on aluminum bottom electrode for film bulk acoustic wave resonator (FBAR) filter applications and the temperature effects on the ZnO film growth is presented. The investigation on how much impact the actual process temperature may have on the crystal growth is more meaningful if it is considered that the piezoelectricity property of ZnO films plays a dominant role in determining the resonance characteristics of FBAR devices and the piezoelectricity is determined by the degree of the c-axis preferred orientation of the deposited ZnO films. In this experiment, it was found that the growth of ZnO crystals has a strong dependence on the deposition temperature ranged from room temperature to $350^{\circ}C$ regardless of the RF powers applied and there exist 3 temperature regions divided by 2 critical temperatures according to the degree of the c-axis preferred orientation. Overall, below $200^{\circ}C$, ZnO deposition results in columnar grains with a highly preferred c-axis orientation. With this ZnO film, a multilayered FBAR structure could be realized successfully.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.191-195
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• 1997

$Co_{84}Hf_{16}$ (1300$\AA$, 2150$\AA$) thin films were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering method. To investigate the uniaxial anisotrpy of the sample, the saturation and effective magnetization of the thin films were measured by VSM and FMR, respectively. The spectroscopic splitting g factor were estimated from the ferromagnetic resonance curves. For 1300$\AA$, 2150$\AA$, the effective magnetization was measured at the temperatures from T=77K to T=300K. The results were analyzed in terms of Bloch's law $M_s(T)=M_s(0)(1BT^{3/2}CT^{5/2}$. The Bloch coefficient B and C were determined by fitting. $M_{eff}(0)$ was obtained by extrapolating $M_{eff}$ to 0 K. From this result, the spinwave stiffness constants D was also determined and the exchange stiffness constants $A_{eff}$ were calculated by Kittel's resonance conditions.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 1999

$Buffer/[NiFe/Cu/CoFe(Co)/Cu]_N$ spin valve multilayers prepared by dc magnetron sputtering on a corning glass substrate using NiFe and CoFe(Co) posses different coercivities. Dependence of magnetoresistance on the type and thickness of buffer layer, thickness of Cu, NiFe, stacking number of multilayer, substrate temperature and annealing temperature in the form $[NiFe/Cu/CoFe(Co)/Cu]_N$ spin-valve multilayers were investigated. To evaluate effect of magnetoresistance for this samples, X-ray diffraction analysis, vibrating sample magnetometer analysis, and magnetoresistance measurement (4-probe method) were performed the maximum magnetoresistance ratio and coercivity were 7.5 % and 140 Oe, respectively for $Cr-50{\AA}/[NiFe-20{\AA}/Cu-{\AA}/Co-20{\AA}/Cu-50{\AA}]_10$ at substrate temperature of 9$0^{\circ}C$. Magnetoresistance slope maintained 0.25%/Oe until 15$0^{\circ}C$ of annealing temperature, and then decreased to 0.03%/Oe at 20$0^{\circ}C$. It was confirmed that the main factor of thermal stability was deteriorating of soft magnetic properties in the NiFe layer.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetics Society
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• v.8 no.6
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• pp.380-387
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• 1998

In this paper, a sensor material with Fe/Zr multilayer thin film, in which the change in the magnetization and strain with hydrogenation is maximized, were developed. Compositionally modulated (CM) Fe/Zr multilayers with a $Fe_{80}Zr_{20}$ composition and modulation wavelengths ($\lambda$) $3~50{\AA}$ were deposited by sequentially sputtering (RF diode) elemental Fe and Zr targets. The films were electrolytically hydrogenated to select the optimum Fe/Zr multilayers that show the maximum increases in the magnetization and strain with hydrogenation. The changes in the magnetic properties of the thin films after hydrogenation, were measured using a hysteresis graph and a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM), and the strains induced in the films by hydrogenation were also measured using a laser heterodyne interferometer (LHI). The optimum sensor material selected was incorporated in a fiber-optic hydrogen sensor (that can sense indirectly amount of hydrogen injected) by depositing it directly on the sensing arm of a single-mode fiber Michelson interferometer. The developed sensor holds significant promise for non-destructive test evaluation (NDE) applications because it is expected to be useful for detecting easily and accurately the subsurface corrosion in structural systems.