Epitaxial growth and characterization of (100) and (110) permalloy films

High-quality, single-crystal fee (100) and (110) permalloy films were epitaxially grown on MgO(100) and MgO(110) substrates, respectively, while polycrystalline structures were established on Si(111) substrates. The excellent crystal growth of the permalloy films on the MgO substrates was evidenced by fine streaks in reflection high energy electron diffraction and X-ray diffraction. Low-temperature magnetic hysteresis measurements show that the polycrystalline permalloy films grown on the silicon substrates are magnetically hard with coercive fields of similar to 15-20 Oe. On the other hand, (100) and (110) permalloy films are magnetically softer with coercive fields of about 1 and 6 Oe, respectively.