Soft magnetic properties of hydrogenated, compositionally modulated, amorphous, Fe-Zr thin films

Magnetic properties and stability of hydrogenated, amorphous, compositionally modulated (CM) Fe-Zr thin films were studied in this work. These films had average compositions Fe/sub x/Zr/sub 100-x/ with x=80, 82, 85, modulation periods of /spl sim/10 /spl Aring/, and total thicknesses of /spl sim/1000 /spl Aring/. In comparison with results obtained for similar homogeneous films, the CM films could be electrochemically charged with larger amounts of hydrogen in much shorter times. The hydrogen induced increases (HIC) in the Curie temperatures of CM films were compatible to those reported for homogeneous films, but the increases in the magnetizations were greater. While the HIC in the magnetic state of homogeneous films are reversed by hydrogen effusion, in CM films they relax to a stable, irreversible, soft magnetic state with interesting magnetic properties.