Incorporation of ferromagnetic metallic films in planar transmission lines for microwave device applications

We constructed a series of microstrip and co-planar microwave waveguides. These structures use metallic ferromagnets and therefore exhibit strongly frequency-dependent attenuation and phase-shift effects. The lines have maximum attenuation peaks occurring at the ferromagnetic resonance frequency, which increases with applied magnetic field. Such properties are used in band-stop filters. The devices used monocrystalline Fe films grown by Molecular Beam Epitaxy and polycrystalline sputtered permalloy films. For our devices that incorporated Fe the band-stop frequencies ranged from 10-20 GHz for applied fields up to only 80 kA/m (1000 Oersted). For devices using permalloy, the band-stop frequency was in the 5-10 GHz range for applied fields less than 80 kA/m. The maximum power attenuation was about 100 dB/cm, much larger than the previously reported values of 4 dB/cm. The resonance condition also affects the phase of the transmitted wave, strongly changing phase above and below the resonance frequency. The result is a phase-shifter that is tunable with applied magnetic field. We observed phase changes of over 360 degrees /cm with an applied field of less than 40 kA/m.