Compositional and temperature dependence of basic magnetic properties of CoCr-alloy thin films

Compositional and temperature dependencies of saturation magnetization (M/sub s/) and uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy (K/sub u/) are determined using single crystal CoCr-alloy thin films. Temperature dependencies of M/sub s/ and K/sub u/ are stronger with increasing Cr content. M/sub s/(OK) and Curie temperature (T/sub c/) decrease linearly with increasing Cr content in a Co-Cr-X (X=Ta, Pt) system. M/sub s/(OK) and T/sub c/ become zero at the Cr concentration of 33 at.%, Co-Cr-Pt specimens have higher T/sub c/ and higher K/sub u/ than those of Co-Cr-Ta specimens with similar Cr concentration. The magnetic properties of polycrystalline medium are confirmed to depend strongly on those of Co-rich core crystalline grains in Cr segregated microstructure.