The use of stress for the control of magnetic anisotropy in amorphous FeSiBC thin films: a magneto-optic study

Magnetostrictive FeSiBC amorphous thin films based on the METGLAS(R) 2605SC composition have been produced by RF magnetron sputtering. The magnetic pr operties were investigated using the magneto-optical Kerr effect, with both point hysteresis measurements and domain imaging. Significant in-plane ani sotropy is observed in the as-grown samples, which was attributed to the re sidual field from the magnetron sputter source. The effects of various trea tments on the samples were investigated, including the use of forming field s, stress, and thermal processing. The deliberate introduction of stress in to these materials is found to allow excellent control of both the directio n and magnitude of magnetic anisotropy, and can also be used as a novel met hod for the absolute measurement of magnetostriction. The treatments are ev aluated for their potential to control anisotropy in magnetostrictive devic e applications. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.