Effect of heat treatment and film thickness on structural and magnetic properties of sputtered-Co-Cr film

Abstract

Co[Formula: see text]Cr[Formula: see text] films with different thickness (103, 161, 200 and 280 nm) were deposited on a glass substrate and then heat treated at 600 [Formula: see text]C in an argon atmosphere. The as-deposited film was composed of the CoCr, CoO and amorphous structure phases and the annealed films were composed of the Co, Cr, CoCr, CoO, Co3O4, Cr2O3 and CoCr2O4 phases. The electrical resistance of the as-deposited film decreased with increasing film thickness and the heat treatment substantially decreased the electrical resistance. All the as-deposited films showed the paramagnetic phase, whereas all annealed films exhibited a ferromagnetic phase depending on the thickness. The highest perpendicular coercive field of 691 Oe and squareness of 0.326 were observed in the 280 nm annealed film with 52 at% Co. The heat treatment and thickness supported the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and enhanced the magnetic properties of the sputtered Co-Cr film on glass substrate by virtual of the manipulation of the film structure, chemical composition and grain dispersion.