AIP Advances (Jul 2013)

Effect of thermal annealing on Boron diffusion, micro-structural, electrical and magnetic properties of laser ablated CoFeB thin films

  • G. Venkat Swamy,
  • Himanshu Pandey,
  • A. K. Srivastava,
  • M. K. Dalai,
  • K. K. Maurya,
  • Rashmi,
  • R. K. Rakshit

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4816811
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 3, no. 7
pp. 072129 – 072129

Abstract

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We report on Boron diffusion and subsequent crystallization of Co40Fe40B20 (CoFeB) thin films on SiO2/Si(001) substrate using pulsed laser deposition. Secondary ion mass spectroscopy reveals Boron diffusion at the interface in both amorphous and crystalline phase of CoFeB. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy reveals a small fraction of nano-crystallites embedded in the amorphous matrix of CoFeB. However, annealing at 400°C results in crystallization of CoFe with bcc structure along (110) orientation. As-deposited films are non-metallic in nature with the coercivity (Hc) of 5Oe while the films annealed at 400°C are metallic with a Hc of 135Oe.