Uniaxial magnetic properties of sputtered FeB/Cu/FeB trilayers deposited onto bowed substrates

Fe80B20/Cu/Fe80B20 trilayers were deposited onto bowed glass substrates usi ng the RF sputtering technique. On removing the trilayers system from the s puttering chamber, a magnetoelastic uniaxial in-plane anisotropy was induce d due to the compressive stress developed when the substrates recovered the ir initial shape, For the first type of the sample the permanent stress was applied in both FeB bottom and top layer in the same directions (parallel to the longer axis of the glass slide). For the second type of the sample t he stress was applied for the bottom FeB layer under +21 degrees and top la yer under -21 degrees angle (with respect to the longer axis of the glass s lide). It was found, using Kerr magnetometry, that due to the positive magn etostriction nature of the FeB layers the directions of the easy axis have been induced separately in each FeB sublayer. The magnetic and magnetoelast ic properties of these samples are discussed, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.