Film structure and magnetic properties of CoNiCr/Cr sputtered thin film

The origin of the high coercive force of sputtered CoNiCr/Cr film was studied and it has been shown that the CoNiCr/Cr film has a fine grain structure with magneto-crystalline anisotropy oriented in the plane, which results in a high coercive force in the film plane. The addition of Ni to Co magnetic layer increases both the magneto-crystalline anisotropy and the coercive force. From the temperature dependence of the saturation magnetization, on depositing the Cr contained alloy films by sputtering, Cr segregates near the grain boundaries and enhances the magnetic isolation of grains, which increases the coercive force.