Propagation of Surface Magnetoelastic Waves in Sputtered Fe-Co-B Films

Propagation of surface magnetoelastic waves (SMEWs) at high frequencies (up to 50 MHz) in Fe-Co-B amorphous film formed by RF sputtering onto glass and silicon wafer substrates are described. Piezoelectric transducers were used for SMEW excitation and detection. Output signals showed that, as expected, of the (P+SV)-L, SH, and (P+SV)-T waves, only the latter changes velocity noticeably with the field. The velocity was found to change by a maximum 2.8 percent when a 60 Oe field was applied; however, magnetic annealing had no great effect on this change. The field had a drastic effect on the SH wave amplitude, attributed to the close coupling of the substrate SAW with the metallic magnetic film.