Surface Investigation of Ni81Fe19 Thin Film: Using ARXPS for Thickness Estimation of Oxidation Layers

Abstract

This work demonstrates the dependence between magnetic properties and the thickness of NiFe thin films. More importantly, a quantitative study of the surface composition of NiFe thin film exposed to atmospheric conditions has been carried out employing angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS). In this study, we fabricated Ni81Fe19 (NiFe) thin films on Si (100) substrate using electron beam evaporation and investigated their surface morphologies, magnetic properties, and the thickness of the surface oxide layer. The coexistence of metallic and oxidized species on the surface are suggested by the depth profile of ARXPS spectra. The thickness of the oxidized species, including NiO, Ni(OH)2, Fe2O3, and Fe3O4, are also estimated based on the ARXPS results. This work provides an effective approach to clarify the surface composition, as well as the thickness of the oxide layer of the thin films.