Enhanced In-Plane Anisotropy and Ferromagnetic Resonance Frequency in Permalloy Films Laminated with Nitrogen-Doped Tantalum

Soft magnetic materials are used in integrated power magnetic devices (such as micro-inductors and micro-transformers) to achieve reasonable inductances at frequencies over a few megahertz. However, the out-of-plane (perpendicular) anisotropy, in thick films produced by vapor deposition, worsens the in-plane soft magnetic properties. This paper reports on the nano-lamination of Permalloy (Ni₈₁Fe₁₉) thin films with the introduction of nitrogen-doped tantalum in between to eliminate the out-of-plane anisotropy and improve the in-plane anisotropy. This significantly improves the in-plane soft magnetic properties, reducing the coercivity from 1352 A/m to 25.5 A/m and increasing the anisotropy field from 180 A/m to 660 A/m. The high-frequency permeability was uniform up to 500 MHz, and the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) frequency was increased to 1 GHz. These properties are ideal for high efficiency magnetic applications at high frequencies and an extended FMR frequency is imperative for gigahertz-range devices.