Premium
Structure and magnetic properties of nanostructured GdTb thin films
Author(s) -
Svalov A. V.,
Vas'kovskiy V. O.,
Barandiarán J. M.,
Balymov K. G.,
Orue I.,
Kurlyandskaya G. V.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
physica status solidi (a)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.532
H-Index - 104
eISSN - 1862-6319
pISSN - 1862-6300
DOI - 10.1002/pssa.201000630
Subject(s) - materials science , terbium , amorphous solid , coercivity , sputtering , gadolinium , thin film , magnetic anisotropy , anisotropy , grain size , layer (electronics) , rare earth , phase (matter) , nuclear magnetic resonance , condensed matter physics , analytical chemistry (journal) , crystallography , composite material , nanotechnology , metallurgy , optics , optoelectronics , magnetization , chemistry , magnetic field , luminescence , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
Various series of Gd 100− x Tb x films and multilayers with a different thickness of rare earth (RE) layers were prepared by rf‐sputtering. The increase of Gd content leads to an increase of the magnetic ordering temperature ( T ord ). At the same time substitution of the low anisotropic gadolinium by high anisotropic terbium causes an increase of the coercivity of the samples. The decrease of the RE layer thickness ( L RE ) results in the change of the RE films structure: the crystalline grain size goes down and for L RE < 3 nm an amorphous phase appears. For L RE < 5 nm all compositions show a significant decrease of the ordering temperature. In contrast with bulk Gd 100− x Tb x alloys, in case of thin films, the value of T ord can be tailored, not only by the change of the composition, but also by the variation of the thickness of Gd 100− x Tb x films.