Thin Solid Films, 75 (1981) L15-L16
L15
Letter
Magnetic behaviour of thin films of Co-Pt alloys with 33 at. ~ Co and 60 at. % Co
V. GEORGESCU AND V. TUTOVAN
Electrical Laboratory, "ALL Cuza" University,Jassy (Romania)
(Received October 27, 1980; accepted November 12, 1980)
1. Introduction
Following our study on the magnetic behaviour of Co-Pt electrolytic thin
films1, in this paper we consider some of these films with a non-stoichiometric
composition. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of the composition
dependence "of the magnetic characteristics of Co-Pt films. We chose films
containing approximately 33 at.% Co and 60 at.% Co (the error being 0.2%) since the
magnetic characteristics of these films differ most from those with the stoichiometric
compositions CoPt3, CoPt and Co3Pt.
The method of preparing the samples and the experimental procedure have
been described elsewhere 1. Films 50-500 nm thick were deposited onto copper discs
of diameter 19.5 mm and thickness 0.5 mm.
2. Experimental results
The variations of the saturation magnetic induction Bs and the coercive field H c
with thickness for these films are less marked than those for films with a
stoichiometric composition.
The behaviour of Co-Pt films with non-stoichiometric composition is also
different from that of films with stoichiometric composition as far as both the form of
the hysteresis cycle (Fig. 1) and the energy loss due to rotational hysteresis (Fig. 2) are
concerned.
The curves showing the variation of the saturation magnetization with the
temperature indicate the presence within the sample of two phases with different
Curie temperatures: T 1 = 390 K and T 2 = 768 K for the films with 33 at.% Co;
T 1 = 773 K and T2 = 1071 K for the films with 60 at.% Co.
The experimental results show that the films studied consist of two phases with
different ferromagnetic characteristics.
3. Discussion
Some papers dealing with bulk samples support our statement. It is known that
alloys of the Cu-Au type with stoichiometric composition are ordered and form the
L 10 or L 12 superstructures.
In contrast, alloys of the same type but having a non-stoichiometric
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