Fabrication and Characterization of Permanent Magnetic SmCo5 Thin Films by SQUID Magnetometer

Abstract

Fabrication of hard magnetic thin films is a key issue on the development of new micro electro mechanical systems. As the magnetically hard SmCo thin-films offer excellent intrinsic magnetic properties, such as moderate saturation magnetization, large magnetic anisotropy, and high Curie temperature, they are considered as a promising candidate to be used for novel MEMS applications. In this work, SmCo5 thin films with Cu underlayer were grown onto Si (100) substrate at room temperature by RF magnetron sputtering technique. The samples were annealed at 400 ̊C and 500 ̊C under Ar atmosphere condition. Microstructural and magnetic properties of sputtered SmCo5 thin films were investigated by a number of advanced characterization tools and techniques. Phase composition of SmCo5 thin films was analyzed by grazing incident X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) with Cu-Kα radiation. Surface morphology was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) techniques. Magnetic force microscopy (MFM) technique was used to take stray-field images of SmCo5 thin films, and finally magnetic properties were investigated to explain the coercivity of SmCo5 thin films using superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) as a magnetometer.