Large in-plane anisotropy in amorphous Sm-Co and (Sm+Ti)Fe films

Abstract

SmCo5, Sm2(Co,Fe,Zr)17, and (Sm+Ti)Fe amorphous films were deposited by rf sputtering onto water cooled substrates with an applied field, Hs, of 2.5 or 1.75 kOe in the plane of the substrates during the sputter deposition. All of these systems have been made so as to exhibit in-plane rectangular hysteresis loops when the magnetizing field is applied in plane parallel to the original field applied during synthesis. The in-plane intrinsic coercive forces parellel to Hs are 1, 0.7, and 0.5 kOe for amorphous SmCo5, Sm2(CoFeZr)17, and (Sm+Ti)Fe5 films respectively. These films exhibit a large amount of in-plane anisotropy since inclined hysteresis loops are observed when the magnetizing field is applied in plane but perpendicular to Hs. The in-plane anisotropy constants for magnetizing these different amorphous systems parallel versus perpendicular to Hs range from (1.4–2.6)×106 ergs/cm3. Expected saturation moments were obtained for these systems for magnetizing fields applied in the film plane. Most samples have been made about 2 μm thick. The samples exhibit smooth mirrorlike surfaces.