Fabrication and Characterization of Physical Vapour Deposition Derived Amorphous Co₁₇Fe₅₄Ni₂₉ Thin Film for Magnetic Sensing Applications

The tri-metallic amorphous alloy Co17Fe54Ni29 is highly desirable for electronics and magnetic sensing applications, owing to its unique properties that stem from disordered atomic configurations. Due to the material’s intrinsic complexity, achieving uniform thin films and conducting comprehensive analyses has been challenging. The objective of this study is to gain a comprehensive understanding of Co17Fe54Ni29 by optimizing PVD deposition parameters and characterizing thin films sputtered onto glass substrates. Characterization techniques include FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopy (for chemical and optical analysis), profilometry (to assess surface features), XRD (to confirm the amorphous structure), XPS (to determine elemental composition and bonding states), and SEM (to analyse surface morphology and particle size). By varying RF power from 100W to 150W, enhanced chemical interaction between metal species and oxygen was observed, accompanied by an increase in particle size, film thickness, and surface roughness. Surface wettability also changed, with the film transitioning from hydrophilic to hydrophobic behavior as contact angles exceeded 90°. The films exhibited reduced absorbance and improved optical transmittance, indicating potential for optoelectronic applications. This study provides important insights into how sputtering parameters influence film structure and properties. VSM analysis revealed that the film deposited at 130 W exhibited the most favorable soft magnetic properties (M<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${}_{\mathbf {s}} = 7.02$ </tex-math></inline-formula> emu/g, H<inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${}_{\mathbf {c}} = 9.75$ </tex-math></inline-formula> Oe), making it the optimal choice for magnetic sensor applications.