The annealing temperature dependences of microstructures and magnetic properties in electro-chemical deposited CoNiFe thin films

CoNiFe thin films with various compositions had been successfully fabricated using electro-chemical deposition method. The crystal structure of Co₆₅Ni₁₅Fe₂₀, Co₆₂Ni₁₅Fe₂₃, and Co₅₅Ni₁₅Fe₃₀ thin films was fcc, bcc-fcc mix, and bcc, respectively. The difference crystal structure results the difference in magnetic properties. The saturation magnetic flux density (Bs) of Co₆₅Ni₁₅Fe₂₀, Co₆₂Ni₁₅Fe₂₃, and Co₅₅Ni₁₅Fe₃₀ thin films was 1.89 T, 1.93 T, and 2.05 T, respectively. An optimal annealing temperature was determined for controlling the microstructure and magnetic properties of CoNiFe thin films. Depending on annealing temperature, the ratio of bcc and fcc structure varied without changing the film composition. By annealing at temperature of T ≥ 350°C, the intensity ratio of X-ray diffraction peaks for bcc(110) to fcc(111) increased. The increase of phase ratio of bcc(110) to fcc(111) caused the increase of Bs, from 1.89 T to 1.95 T. Coercivity (Hc) also increased after annealing, from 2.6 Oe to 18.6 Oe for fcc phase thin films, from 2.0 Oe to 12.0 Oe for fcc-bcc mix phase thin films, and 7.8 Oe to 8 Oe for bcc phase thin films. The changing crystal structures during annealing process indicated that the thermal treatment at high temperature cause the changing crystallinity and atomic displacement. The TEM bright-field images with corresponding selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns showed that there are strongly effects of thermal annealing on the size of fcc and bcc phase crystalline grain as described by size of individual spot and discontinuous rings. The size of crystalline grains increased by thermal annealing. The evolution of bcc and fcc structures of CoNiFe during annealing is though to be responsible for the change of magnetic properties.