Study of Structural, Electrical, Magnetic and Magnetooptic Properties of Coevaporated Fe _x Co_1–x Thin Films

Fe _x Co_1–x alloys have been deposited by coevaporation onto oxidized Si(100) and float glass substrates. The atomic composition has been evaluated from EDX and RBS analysis. From X-ray diffraction spectra, we show the coexistence of bcc and fcc phases for some compositions. All the films present almost (110) and (211) textures with a grain size varying with the composition. The lattice constant value increases rapidly with x from the cobalt lattice constant to stabilize around the iron one. The electrical resistivity deduced from the resistance four-point probe shows an oscillory behavior with composition. Magnetooptical and magnetic properties have been studied using the hysteresis loops of the longitudinal Kerr rotation and the magnetization. All the samples have in-plane anisotropy with no preferential direction. The in-plane coercivity and the saturation magnetization were studied as a function of composition.