Structure and properties of sputtered FeMn/NiFe bilayer thin films

The exchange anisotropy and magnetic properties of FeMn/Fe exchange coupled bilayer thin films with various NiFe [111] crystal axis distributions have been investigated. The exchange anisotropy and magnetic properties of the exchange coupled films have been found to be very sensitive to the dispersion of the NiFe [111] crystal axis, i.e. Delta theta(50). Higher exchange anisotropy field (H-e) is obtained for the FeMn deposited on the highly oriented NiFe film (Delta theta(50) of 2.8 degrees). While lower exchange anisotropy field is obtained for the FeMn film deposited on NiFe film having more random [111] crystal axis distribution (Delta theta(50) of 11.8 degrees). Also, the magnetic characteristics of the exchange coupled films were found to be dependent upon the [111] orientation distributions of the NiFe films. Very low coercivity H-c// (measured along the easy direction) and large anisotropy field increase (Delta H-k) were found for the sample film of FeMn deposited on highly oriented NiFe film.