Co40Fe40Y20 Nanofilms’ Structural, Magnetic, Electrical, and Nanomechanical Characteristics as a Function of Annealing Temperature and Thickness

Abstract

To investigate the correlations between different thicknesses and heat treatments, this study used a sputtering method to create CoFeY films. The results of X-ray diffraction (XRD) revealed the appearance of oxide peaks at 2θ = 47.7°, 54.5°, and 56.3° in agreement with YFeO3 (212), Co2O3 (422), and Co2O3 (511), respectively. The findings also demonstrated a relationship between the low-frequency alternative-current magnetic susceptibility (χac) values and the thickness of the CoFeY thin films. At a thickness of 50 nm and an annealing temperature of 300 °C, the ideal value of ac was 0.159. The presence of Y and the thickness impact were both evident in the χac value, which improved spin-exchange coupling as well as grain refining. With increasing thickness, the resistance decreased. At 300 °C and 40 nm in thickness, this film has a maximum surface energy of 31.2 mJ/mm2. The hardness of the 50-nm films reached a maximum of 16.67 GPa when annealed at 100 °C. Due to the high χac, strong adhesion, good nanomechanical properties, and low resistivity, the optimal conditions were determined to be 50 nm with annealing at 300 °C.