Materials Science. Non-Equilibrium Phase Transformations.
Vol. 11 (2025), Issue 1, pg(s) 21-24

Physical properties study of ferromagnetic Permalloy thin films

  • 1 Laboratory of Surfaces and Interfaces Studies of Solid Materials (LESIMS), Faculty of Technology, Ferhat ABBAS Sétif1 University, Sétif, 19000, Algeria

Abstract

We fabricated Permalloy thin films of different thicknesses, using thermal evaporation under vacuum, onto Si (100) substrates. We examined the influence of Py thickness on their physical properties. The surface morphology, structure, microstructure, chemical compositions and electrical properties, are performed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray analyzer (SEM-EDS), and the Hall Effect measurement system (HMS-5300). The analyses of X-ray diffraction spectra confirmed the formation of the Ni3Fe phase and inferred that all the films crystallize in a CFC structure with a preferential <111> orientation. The crystallites size and the lattice parameter, computed from the dominant (111) X-ray diffraction peak, decreased with increasing Py/Si film thickness. Also, the lattice parameter values, obtained for all samples, were fairly close to the bulk value. SEM micrographs of the samples clearly exhibited a non-uniform distribution of quasi-spherical aggregates on the granular surface of the Py/Si films, as well as the presence of micro-cracks for the thickest film. Furthermore, AFM images indicated the formation of crystallites according to Stranski-Krastanov mode for the Py/Si films, with roughness values ranging from 0.2 to 2.5 nm. Electrical measurements revealed that the electrical resistivity decreased with increasing film thickness whereas the mobility increased. The spontaneous magnetization increases with thickness from 600 to 760 emu/cm3, and the coercivity decreases following a t-n Néel law.

Keywords

References

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