Soft Magnetic Properties of FeCo/Zr Multilayers

The soft magnetic properties of Fe
_100-x
Co
_x
(x=30 or 4) multilayer (ML) films prepared by rf magnetron sputtering are reported. The growth of FeCo crystallites is suppressed by the presence of Zr intermediate layers, and the layer structure is stable up to 500°C. The annealing behavior of the coercivity and permeability is discussed in relation to the magnetostriction and magnetocrystalline anisotropy of FeCo crystallites.