The fabrication and characterization of MnAl/FeCo composite thin films with enhanced maximum energy products

This paper reported a method to increase the maximum energy products of MnAl thin films through magnetic exchange coupling. MnAl and MnAl/FeCo thin films were deposited through DC magnetron sputtering on Si wafer substrate. The morphology of the thin films was investigated through SEM, TEM and AFM, and the magnetic properties were investigated through VSM. Results show that there is an effective magnetic exchange coupling between MnAl and FeCo thin films when the FeCo layer is no larger than 8 nm. The magnetic exchange coupling was demonstrated by smooth magnetic hysteresis loops, enhanced maximum energy products, and positive peaks in the Henkel Plots. The results reported in this paper could be used to further increase the magnetic performance of MnAl thin films.