Co-Zr-O nano-granular thin films with improved high frequency soft magnetic properties

A study was made of the properties and structure of Co-Zr-O nano-granular films prepared by rf reactive sputtering in an atmosphere of argon and oxygen gases. We found soft magnetic Co-Zr-O films in a wide compositional range near Co-ZrO/sub 2/ and investigated systematically the compositional dependence of their magnetic properties and electrical resistivity. The films near Co/sub 60/Zr/sub 10/O/sub 30/ simultaneously have anisotropy fields more than 150 Oe, coercivities less than 3 Oe, saturation magnetizations more than 9 kG, and electrical resistivities more than 1000 /spl mu//spl Omega/cm. The frequency response of permeability of these films is excellent. And they show a high resonance frequency exceeding 3 GHz.