Amorphization of thin supermalloy films Ni79Fe17Mo4 with oxygen during magnetron sputtering

Reactive sputtering of permalloy typically reduces crystallite size in films, if the concentration of reactive gas is low. This advances magnetic properties: decreases coercivity and increases good in-plane magnetic anisotropy. But oxygen is rarely applied for this purpose. Here, peculiar deposition conditions, including the geometry of the vacuum deposition system and large polymer substrate, allowed for the deposition of supermalloy with unusually high admixture of oxygen. Evolution of both static and dynamic magnetic properties with an increase in oxygen concentration proved to be dealt with the balance between grain size, surface structure, disordering of atomic structure and internal stresses. The critical concentration when supermalloy shows indications of oxidation is 5% of O2. Coercivity, resistivity, roughness and ferromagnetic resonance frequency are the parameters that are most sensitive to oxidation.