Electro-deposition of Fe-Tb-O films with ac currents for use in high frequency micromagnetic devices

Electro-deposition of Fe-Tb-O films was attempted using ac currents with lo w frequency. The film composition, especially Tb content of films, was foun d to be sensitive to the concentration of complex agent, KNaC4H4O6: when KN aC4H4O6 = 283.47 mM, plated films with very high Tb content reaching 29 at. % were Obtained, in spite of the difficulty in electro-deposition of Tb owi ng to its very low catalytic activity. Coercivity H-c and squareness ratio M-r/M-s of films varied considerably depending strongly on the intensity of ac current i: when i = 0.67 A/dm(2), films with relatively soft magnetic p roperties of H-c = 290 e and M-r/M-s = 0.93 were realized. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science S.A. All rights reserved.