Ultrasoft Finemet thin films for magneto-impedance microsensors

FeCuNbSiB thin films have been deposited using RF sputtering. Characterizations have shown that oxygen contamination and residual stress are mainly responsible for magnetic hardening. The sputtering and annealing conditions have been optimized and films with coercive field as low as 10 A m-1 (0.125 Oe) have been achieved. In addition, the influence of film thickness on the magnetic properties has been studied. Thus, magnetic field microsensors based on the magneto-impedance effect have been fabricated by stacking up Finemet/copper/Finemet films. The highest sensitivity (4000 V/T/A) is reached for 750 nm thick films. It is in the same range as cm-sized macroscopic devices realized using 20 μm thick ribbons.