Sendust films for high temperature processing

Sendust, permalloy, and cobalt-zirconium films were subjected to heat treatments at temperatures up to 800°C. The sendust films had the most thermally stable magnetic properties. Using orienting magnetic fields during deposition gave a well defined anisotropy in the sendust films. High r.f. forward power had an annealing effect during deposition while negative substrate bias tended to decrease the coercivity. Ar pressure during deposition had little effect on the coercivity but moment density decreased with increased pressure. Target to substrate distance hardly affected the magnetic properties. Thinner films had lower coercivity than thicker films probably due to stresses in the thicker films.