Laser and sputter-deposited amorphous films for stress detection

Amorphous magnetic films have been deposited onto Kapton(TM) and silicon substrates using the technique of laser ablation. The source material irradiated by the laser was either a pack. of amorphous ribbons of composition Fe67Co18Si1B14 or Fe5.85Co72.15Mo2B15Si5 or a bulk amorphous material with the composition Fe4.35Co68.15Si12.5B15. Results show that all films deposited onto silicon exhibit isotropic magnetisation within the film plane despite being deposited in the presence of an external magnetic field. For those films deposited onto Kapton,both isotropic and anisotropic magnetisation have been observed. Similar compositions deposited by magnetron sputtering have yielded films with in-plane magnetic anisotropy. These films, when subjected to differing fixation pressures within a Kerr magneto-optical installation, show changes in their hysteresis loops. These findings indicate a possible future for these films as sensing elements far stress detection devices. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.