Structural and compositional heterogeneities of sputter deposited, amorphous Co_(87)Zr₄Nb_9 thin films were investigated using TEM and EDS with windowless detector. The films deposited with substrate bias and annealed in rotating magnetc field showe...
Structural and compositional heterogeneities of sputter deposited, amorphous Co_(87)Zr₄Nb_9 thin films were investigated using TEM and EDS with windowless detector. The films deposited with substrate bias and annealed in rotating magnetc field showed two amorphous phases of Co-rich region and (ZrNb)oxide-rich region, and revealed ‘ultra-soft’ magnetic properties. Revesible bias-responses and overdamped frequency responses, along with small Hc, Hk and Mr/Ms ratio, give the possibility of ultra-soft magnetic behavior fo CoZrNb thin films.<br/>
We proposed the vortex type magnetization distribution in remanent state which was correlated with the thin film heterogeneity. Then, the ultra-soft characteristics of the compositionally heterogeneous films were explained by the spin vortices that minimized the total magnetostatic and exchange coupling energies.