Induced anisotropy, magnetic domain structure and magnetoimpedance effect in CoFeB amorphous thin films

CoFeB amorphous thin films have been prepared by radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The objective of the work has been to obtain very soft thin fil ms, and to correlate their domain structure with the induced anisotropy and giant magneto-impedance (GMI) features. Tailored anisotropies were induced by either growth under stress, or by postdeposition annealing in the prese nce of a magnetic field. In certain cases these induced anisotropies give r ise to significant GMI effect at a frequency, 5 MHz, relatively low for thi n films. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.