Pulsed laser deposition – an alternative route to the growth of magnetic thin films

A variety of magnetic materials that have potential for sensor and microactuator applications have been grown by pulsed laser deposition PLD.. Studies have been carried out to assess the influence of parameters such as the incident laser fluence J cmy2 . on the magnetic and magnetoelastic responses of these films. Magnetic characterisation and magnetostriction measurements were made by vibrating sample magnetometry VSM.and capacitance dilatometry respectively. No obvious trend was shown, in all the magnetic systems studied, between fluence and magnetic properties such as magnetisation or coercivity. Room temperature in-plane magnetostrictions of ;800 ppm have been measured from thin films ;200 nm.of the rare earth intermetallic compound Terfenol-D Tb0.3Dy0.7Fe1.95.. The potential of post production laser processing has been evaluated on the Fe–Zr alloy system and the results point to the ability to tailor the magnetic response of a film for a specific application. q1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved