JPH06283332A - Thin film magnetic material, its manufacture, and micro magnetic device using it - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain a thin film magnetic material having stable magnetic characteristics and an excellent performance by scattering specific nonmagnetic micro cluster areas in an amorphous magnetic area composed of magnetic atoms. CONSTITUTION:This magnetic material contains a first component composed of at least one kind of magnetic atoms selected from among Co, Fe, and Ni, second component composed of at least one kind of nonmagnetic atoms selected from among Nb, Ta, and V, and third component composed of nonmagnetic Zr atoms. At the time of forming the magnetic material, an amorphous area 2 is formed of the magnetic atoms of the first component and micro cluster areas 1 are formed of the atoms of the second and third components so that the areas 1 can be scattered in the area 2. Therefore, various kinds of micro magnetic devices having high degrees of integration and complicated shapes can be obtained, because the magnetic stability against temperatures of this thin film magnetic material and, accordingly, the machining stresses and degree of freedom in design of magnetic circuit elements can be improved.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a novel thin film magnetic material, a method for producing the same and a micro magnetic device using the same, and particularly to low magnetostriction, high magnetic permeability, high saturation magnetic flux density, thermal stability, corrosion resistance and The present invention relates to a high-performance micro magnetic device having excellent wear resistance.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a thin film magnetic material provided in this type of micro magnetic device has been formed by sputtering, etc. on a non-magnetic insulating substrate such as ferrite or ceramic, or a non-magnetic insulating film laminated thereon. It is formed using a thin film manufacturing technique. This kind of thin film magnetic material is, for example, a VTR.
It is used in magnetic circuit elements of magnetic heads for recording / playback of hard disks and sensor heads of measuring instruments. In such applications, it is desired that the magnetic permeability can be set to a desired value, that the magnetic permeability does not change with time, and that the change in magnetic permeability with temperature is small. Further, it is desired that the magnetic characteristics do not change even if high temperature is repeatedly applied, that is, the soft magnetic characteristics are maintained. Conventionally,
This type of thin film magnetic body was formed of a Co—Nb alloy, a Co—Zr alloy, a Co—Nb—Zr alloy, or the like. These materials are described, for example, in the Journal of Applied Magnetics of Japan, "Multilayer Video Head Using Co-Based Superstructure Nitride Alloy Film", Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
No. 8-98824, "Magnetic head", Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 62-
Reported in "Heat-Stable High Magnetic Flux Density Amorphous Alloy" of Japanese Patent No. 274043, "Alloy for Magnetic Head" of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 63-270440, and "Amorphous Soft Magnetic Material" of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 1-181503. Has been done.

[0003]

However, Co-Nb-Zr and Co- films formed by the sputter deposition method or the like are used.
Conventional thin film magnetic materials such as Nb-Zr-Ta alloy magnetic films are
National Technical Report Vol.31, No.6, pp136-142
As shown in, the structure is mainly composed of microcrystalline material. Further, for example, the magnetic body disclosed in JP-A-58-98824 is made of an amorphous alloy. However, these thin films
For example, if the temperature exceeds 775K for a long time, there is a defect that the magnetic permeability changes, and the operation as a micro magnetic device becomes unstable, so that the desired performance cannot be maintained. For example, the thin film laminated substrate is SiO
A non-magnetic insulating layer such as ₂ is provided between magnetic layers. In this manufacturing process, in order to remove the magnetic anisotropy induced during sputtering, heat treatment is performed at a temperature not lower than the Curie temperature of the magnetic film and lower than the recrystallization temperature. The problem of deterioration of magnetic permeability arises. Further, when the Curie temperature of the magnetic film is higher than the crystallization temperature, it is impossible to remove the induced magnetic anisotropy at the time of vapor deposition by heat treatment, and it is not possible to obtain a magnetic material having excellent soft magnetic characteristics. there were. Further, in a magnetic head using this kind of thin film magnetic body as a magnetic circuit element, there is a problem that the magnetic permeability is lowered due to glass bonding or machining in the manufacturing process, and the soft magnetic characteristics are lost.

The object of the present invention is to solve the above problems in the prior art, and (1) to increase the stability against temperature history and machining in the process of manufacturing a micro magnetic device, 2) Produce a magnetic material whose magnetic permeability can be set to a desired value without significantly changing the temperature characteristics, and (3) maintain the soft magnetic characteristics of the thin-film magnetic material to extend the desired characteristics. It is to provide a micro magnetic device that can be maintained for a period of time.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object of the present invention, a novel thin film magnetic material of the present invention comprises an amorphous region of a first component composed of one kind or two or more kinds of magnetic atoms. ,
A second component composed of one or more non-magnetic atoms,
By adding a slight amount of the third component to this, the second component atom and the third component atom aggregate to form a microcluster region, and the microcluster region is formed into an amorphous region composed of the first component atom. It is in the form of being scattered inside. When the third component is not added, the first
The alloy composed of the first component and the second component may crystallize, which may adversely affect the magnetic properties. The thin-film magnetic material of the present invention has the non-magnetic micro-cluster region dispersed in the amorphous magnetic region composed of the magnetic atoms of the first component, thereby
It is possible to realize a thin film magnetic body having excellent performance with stable magnetic characteristics by preventing crystallization of the amorphous magnetic region of the component. The above-mentioned microcluster region structure of the thin film magnetic material of the present invention is formed at the time of film formation by a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method such as a sputtering method or a vacuum vapor deposition method or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method such as a chemical vapor deposition method. Alternatively, it may be formed by heat treatment after film formation or by applying a rotating magnetic field during the heat treatment. One embodiment of the present invention is directly on a substrate of glass, ferrite, non-magnetic ceramic or the like having a predetermined shape, or chromium (C
r), silicon oxide (SiO ₂ or the like), aluminum oxide (Al ₂ O ₃ or the like), or the like. A first component comprising at least one magnetic atom selected, a second component comprising at least one non-magnetic atom selected from Nb, Ta and V, and a third component comprising a non-magnetic Zr atom. And the magnetic atoms forming the first component form an amorphous region, and the non-magnetic atoms forming the second component and the third component form a microcluster region, and the microcluster region is It is a thin film magnetic material suitable for a micro magnetic device configured to be scattered in an amorphous region composed of first component atoms. One preferable embodiment of the present invention is that a thin film magnetic body formed directly or through an underlayer on a predetermined substrate contains Co, Nb and Zr as essential components Co—Nb—Zr alloy,
Alternatively, Co containing Co, Ta and Zr as essential components
-Ta-Zr alloy or Fe-Ta-Zr alloy containing Fe, Ta and Zr as essential components can be mentioned. In these thin film magnetic bodies, Co or Fe forms an amorphous magnetic region, and Nb and Zr or Ta and Zr form a non-magnetic microcluster region having a size of about 0.8 × 0.9 nm. The non-magnetic micro-cluster regions are formed so as to be scattered in the amorphous magnetic regions made of Co or Fe. The microcluster regions scattered in the amorphous magnetic region prevent crystallization of the amorphous region exhibiting ferromagnetism, and constitute a high-performance thin film magnetic body exhibiting stable magnetic characteristics. In the thin-film magnetic material of the present invention, the ratio of the micro-cluster regions scattered in the amorphous region composed of magnetic atoms can be set by the target magnetic properties (permeability, saturation magnetic flux density, etc.) of the thin film. It is possible, but as a ratio of atoms forming the microcluster region, atomic%
It is preferably 30% or less, more preferably 20% or less, and most preferably about 16.6% or less. In addition, the thin film magnetic material of the present invention can be manufactured by the usual PVD method or C
Using the VD method, a non-magnetic region formed by a first component atom, an amorphous region, and a second component atom and a third component atom, Zr, directly on a predetermined substrate or via an underlayer. Microcluster regions are formed so as to be scattered in the amorphous magnetic region. At this time, the amorphous region composed of the first component atoms and the second and third component atoms (Z
By controlling the volume ratio to the microcluster region of r), it is possible to set the magnetic permeability, the saturation magnetic flux density, and the like to desired values for manufacturing. A preferred method for producing a thin film magnetic material of the present invention is to dispose a predetermined substrate or a substrate on which a base layer is formed in a vacuum chamber maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum, and to preliminarily aim at a position facing the substrate. The alloy target adjusted to the component composition is arranged, or Co, Fe or Ni metal as the first component atom, Nb, Ta or V metal as the second component atom, and Zr metal as the third component atom. By changing the surface exposed area ratio of the metal target, arranging a metal target adjusted so as to be a thin film magnetic material having a target component composition, and applying DC or AC power to perform sputtering, Binary atom and Z
The content of r atoms is adjusted to control the volume ratio of the micro-cluster regions made up of the second component atoms and Zr atoms scattered in the amorphous region of the first component atoms to obtain magnetic permeability and saturation magnetic flux. It is possible to obtain a thin film magnetic body having a density set to a desired value. Furthermore, in the method for producing a thin film magnetic material of the present invention, after forming a thin film magnetic material having a target component composition on a predetermined substrate, heat treatment at a predetermined temperature not higher than the crystallization temperature makes it more stable. A thin film magnetic body having excellent magnetic properties (permeability and saturation magnetic flux density) can be obtained. Further, according to the present invention, a magnetic thin film laminated substrate can be manufactured by alternately laminating two or more layers of a non-magnetic insulating film and the above-mentioned thin film magnetic material of the present invention on a predetermined substrate. Then, by using this thin film laminated substrate as a magnetic circuit element, a magnetic head for recording, reproducing or erasing information can be constructed. Furthermore, by using the above magnetic head, a high performance magnetic recording and reproducing apparatus can be provided. Can be configured. Further, by using the above magnetic head, a magnetic sensor having high magnetic detection accuracy can be configured, or a microminiature transformer (microtransformer) having excellent high frequency characteristics can be configured. As described above, the thin film magnetic body of the present invention can be used as a magnetic circuit element, and the above-described micro magnetic device configured by using the thin film magnetic body of the present invention is subjected to heat treatment or machining in its manufacturing process. Also, it is possible to realize a micro magnetic device equipped with a thin film magnetic body or a thin film laminated substrate having stable magnetic characteristics without deteriorating the magnetic characteristics. The thin film magnetic material of the present invention has a film thickness of, for example, 10
It is desirable to use a layer having a thickness of μm or less, but the present invention is not limited to this.

[0006]

The magnetic characteristics of the thin film magnetic material of the present invention mainly depend on the region of the first component, which is an amorphous structure of the magnetic atom. The micro-cluster region composed of the non-magnetic atoms of the second component and the third component makes almost no contribution to the magnetic properties, and C
The effective volume of the amorphous region due to the magnetic atoms of o, Fe or Ni is reduced, the magnetic anisotropy of the entire magnetic thin film is reduced, the soft magnetic characteristics are improved, and the thin film magnetic film is formed. It also plays a role in alleviating induced magnetic anisotropy and sticking of domain walls that occur immediately after. In addition, the microcluster region composed of non-magnetic atoms of Nb, Ta or V, and Zr has a structure that suppresses crystal growth of an amorphous region composed of magnetic atoms, so that even at a temperature of about 675 to 775 K Without causing structural changes in level,
Further, since induced magnetic anisotropy does not occur, a thin film magnetic body having stable magnetic characteristics can be obtained. By forming a magnetic material with such an atomic level structure by a thin film process, a high-performance micro magnetic composed of a magnetic circuit element with high saturation magnetic flux density and high permeability corresponding to low magnetostriction and high density recording. The device can be realized.

[0007]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in more detail with reference to the drawings. <Example 1> (1) Outline As one example of the thin film magnetic material according to the present invention, Co _{0 .835} N
b _{0. 124} Zr _{0. 041} for the thin film magnetic material having a component composition will be described. The thin film magnetic material having this composition can be formed by a physical vapor deposition method, for example, a sputtering method. In the Co-Nb-Zr ternary system, Nb and Z
It is important that r atoms are aggregated to form a non-magnetic microcluster region, and that Co, which is a magnetic atom, becomes amorphous. 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams showing an example of the region structure of the present invention. In FIG. 1A, the hexagonal portion shown in black indicates the region of the microcluster 1 of nonmagnetic atoms, which is a microcluster region composed of Nb and a trace amount of Zr atoms. The other regions are composed of amorphous regions 2 of magnetic atoms composed of Co atoms. It is the amorphous Co region having no crystal structure that directly contributes to the magnetic properties of the entire magnetic thin film.
By changing the composition ratio of Co, Nb, and Zr, it is possible to obtain a thin film magnetic body having the best magnetic characteristics. FIG. 1B shows a sectional structure in the case where a Cr underlayer 16 is formed on a glass nonmagnetic substrate 9 and a Co—Nb—Zr ternary magnetic thin film 11 is provided thereon. It is a schematic diagram. (2) Film Forming Method The thin film magnetic body of the present invention having the atomic level structure of the microclusters can be formed by using, for example, the sputtering method in the PVD method as described below. That is, in the vacuum chamber 3 shown in FIG. 5, the target 4 is opposed to the substrate 5 on which the thin film magnetic body is formed, and DC or AC power, especially high frequency power is applied to perform sputtering.
As a result, the material of the target is decomposed into clusters or atomic levels and jumps out, and is deposited on the substrate 5. At that time, 1 to 1 Ar gas is supplied from the gas flow pipe 6.
Film formation is carried out while flowing the substrate 5 with a pressure of 0.1 Pa and cooling water flowing through the cooling water pipe 7. The substrate used in this example was a glass substrate on which a Cr layer was formed as an underlayer. In addition to the above, ferrite or non-magnetic ceramics can be used as the substrate, and a thin film of silicon oxide such as SiO ₂ or aluminum oxide such as Al ₂ O ₃ can be used as the underlayer. You can The thin film magnetic body of this embodiment is preferably heat-treated at a predetermined temperature equal to or lower than the crystallization temperature after the film formation. The thin film magnetic body of this embodiment can be formed by using Co, Nb, and Zr metals as the target 4. In this case, the composition can be controlled by changing the area ratio of each metal exposed on the surface of the Co, Nb and Zr metal target 4. The exposed area was controlled by arranging Co on the target 4 and placing Nb pieces or Zr pieces on the surface of the target 4 to adjust the exposed area ratio of each element, and prepared in advance so as to have a desired composition. There is a method of using a Co—Nb—Zr alloy as the target 4. The atomic level structure of the thin film magnetic material can be confirmed by the method described below. (3) Structural Analysis Since the thin film magnetic body formed in this example is amorphous, it is difficult to identify the structure by a crystal structure analysis method such as X-ray diffraction. In FIG. 9A, the Co formed in this example is shown.
3 shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of a -Nb-Zr thin film. Note that FIG. 9 (b) is obtained by crystallizing the thin film shown in FIG. 9 (a) by heat treatment at 875K for 30 minutes. FIG. 9A shows that it has a broad pattern and is in an amorphous state, but its detailed structure is unknown. Therefore, the EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) measurement method capable of analyzing the amorphous structure was used to change the sputtering power during film formation, the heat treatment temperature after film formation, and the pressure of Ar gas to form a thin film magnetic film. Structural analysis was performed on the body. This allows
It is possible to identify the structure of a thin film magnetic body having excellent magnetic properties (high magnetic permeability and high saturation magnetic flux density), and it is possible to set the conditions for the best manufacturing process. EXAFS
When the analysis by measurement is performed, the local structure (information on the arrangement of atoms) around the selected specific atomic species can be obtained.
Regarding this EXAFS measurement, for example, “Physical Society of Japan, Vol. 34, No. 7 (1979), pp. 589-59.
8 ”and Physical Review magazine
B) Vol.1, No.8 (1975), pp2795-2811 ", etc. FIG. 2 shows the K-X-ray absorption edge of Nb in order to analyze the local structure around the Nb atom. EXAF measured
It is an example of S. EXAFS measurement of each absorption edge of Co, Nb, and Zr-K was performed using X-rays of synchrotron radiation for the measurement. The EXAFS measurement method includes a transmission method, a fluorescence method, and a reflectance method. For the EXAFS measurement of the Co-Nb-Zr magnetic thin film, a fluorescence method that can measure an optimum X-ray spectrum even with a thin film sample formed on a substrate was adopted. FIG. 3 is a radial distribution centered on Nb atoms obtained by Fourier transforming the EXAFS measurement of Nb-K. The horizontal axis represents the distance from the central Nb atom to the atoms coordinated to the surroundings, and the vertical axis represents the atom distribution density. This radial distribution qualitatively shows the structure around the Nb atom. As a method for quantitatively analyzing the structure around the X-ray absorbing atom, there is a curve fit method. For example, according to the following theoretical formula (Equation 1),
Using the nonlinear least squares method, the interatomic distance rj and the coordination number N
Optimize j, Debye-Waller factor σ j.

[0008]

[Equation 1]

However, j: a subscript representing the atoms around the X-ray absorbing atom Nj: the number of j-type atoms (coordination number) rj: the distance between the X-ray absorbing atom and the j-type atom fj: backscattering of the j-type atom Amplitude φj: Phase shift due to scattering of X-ray photoelectrons σj: Debye-Waller factor k: Wavenumber of X-ray photoelectrons (2π / λ) λ: Mean free path of photoelectrons S ₀ : Parameter representing inelastic loss of photoelectrons where: Calculated values can be used for the values of the phase shift φj and the backscattering amplitude fj. Further, S ₀ ² · exp (−2rj / λ) is approximated to a scale factor that does not depend on k, and can be obtained from the analysis result of the coordination number of a standard sample whose structure is known. An example of analyzing the thin film magnetic body of the present embodiment using the above method is shown below. Here, for comparison, a thin film that has not been heat-treated (as depo.), A thin film that has been heat-treated at 735 K, and a thin film that has been heat-treated at 875 K will be described. FIG. 10 shows an example of the analysis result of the coordination number. Here, for example, "Zr-Co" means Zr-K absorption edge EXA.
The Co coordination number around Zr analyzed by FS measurement will be expressed. FIG. 11 shows an example of the analysis result of the interatomic distance. However, "Nb-M" (M represents a metal) is
as depo. And the heat treatment at 735K results in Nb-Co
The interatomic distance between the two is Nb-N for the heat-treated sample of 875K.
b represents the interatomic distance. (1) as depo. In the case of, the Co coordination number around Nb is about 6, the Nb coordination number around Nb is about 4, and the Nb coordination number is larger than that when Nb is randomly distributed according to the composition. Co
Co-Co obtained from analysis of -K absorption edge EXAFS measurement
The inter-atomic distance between the two is 0.2447 nm, and the inter-atomic distance between Co and Co of the α-Co crystal is the literature value (0.2502
nm), which is extremely smaller than In this measurement, the polarization direction of the incident X-ray is perpendicular to the thin film sample surface, and the interatomic distance bonded in this direction is analyzed. Therefore, it is considered to have an amorphous structure in which the lattice of the α-Co phase (hcp) is shrunk in the direction perpendicular to the sample surface. Also, Nb
The inter-atomic distance between Nb and Co determined by -K absorption edge EXAFS measurement is 0.2749 nm, and the theoretical value of inter-atomic distance between Nb and Co determined from metal radius (0.268n
m) (indicated by a broken line in FIG. 11). This is N
b indicates that the atoms do not exist in the Co lattice but aggregate to form clusters. (2) In the case of heat treatment at 735K as depo. Compared with, the coordination number of Co around Nb and Zr decreases and the coordination number of Nb and Zr increases. This indicates that Nb and Zr are further aggregated. The interatomic distance between Co and Co is 0.2454 nm, and the interatomic distance between Nb and Co is 0.2769 nm. The interatomic distance of each is as depo. Is bigger than Here, by introducing a simple cluster model, cluster size (diameter) and Nb around Nb,
Consider the relationship of the Co coordination number ratio. It is assumed that the Nb cluster and the surrounding structure are body-centered cubic structure (bcc), and the number of lattices is N. The shape of the cluster is simplified to a cube. Assuming that the periphery of the Nb cluster was occupied by the Co lattice (bcc), the number of Nb and Co atoms coordinated to Nb was counted to obtain the ratio of coordination numbers. FIG. 12 shows the ratio of the coordination numbers of Nb and Co around Nb as a function of the number of Nb atoms in the cluster. As depo. Obtained from the analysis result of the EXAFS measurement. When the ratio of the coordination number of Nb and the coordination number of Co around Nb of the sample is made to correspond to the graph of FIG. 12, the number of Nb atoms in the cluster is about 25. On the other hand, in the case of heat treatment at 735 K, as depo. It can be seen that the cluster size is about 15% larger than that of. The structure of an actual microcluster is more complicated than the above model and is considered to take various forms, but the relationship between the coordination number ratio and the cluster size shows the same tendency regardless of which model is used. Show. FIG. 4 shows a plan view [FIG. 4 (a)] and a side view [FIG. 4 (b)] of the microcluster as an example of the microcluster structure model of the thin film magnetic body. It has a close-packed structure with the center being Nb atoms, and 12 Nb atoms are bonded to the periphery. Then, a micro cluster having a size of 0.8 × 0.9 nm is formed. Since Zr is a trace component, it is not shown in the model diagram of the microcluster. Example 2 In this example, an example of the thin film laminated substrate of the present invention will be described. FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the structure of the magnetic thin film laminated substrate of this embodiment. In the figure, a thin film laminated substrate 8 is a non-magnetic insulating film 10 made of SiO ₂ or the like having a thickness of 1 to 10 nm and a magnetic material having a thickness of 1 to 10 μm on a substrate 9 such as ferrite or non-magnetic ceramic. The thin films 11 are alternately formed by sputtering to form a magnetic thin film laminated substrate. In order to suppress the eddy current and greatly reduce the amount of leakage magnetic flux, the SiO ₂ nonmagnetic insulating film 10 having a film thickness of about 1 to 3 nm is used. When the thin-film magnetic material undergoes an atomic-level structural change such as a phase transition, the magnetic properties of the magnetic thin film also change, causing a decrease in initial permeability and induction of magnetic anisotropy, which does not satisfy the desired properties. Therefore, a significant obstacle occurs in manufacturing yield and stability as a magnetic device. In the thin film magnetic material in which the non-magnetic microclusters mentioned in this example are scattered in the amorphous region composed of magnetic atoms, the Nb and Zr microclusters are scattered in the Co amorphous region, Since the size of the Co atomic region is suppressed to prevent crystallization, the soft magnetic characteristics are stable under heating at about 675K to 775K. For a thin film laminated substrate using this thin film magnetic material, each single layer of the thin film magnetic material is formed to a thickness of several nm to reduce the magnetic atom simple substance region formed at the time of sputtering and The magnetic anisotropy in the perpendicular direction can be reduced. Further, by increasing the number of laminated layers, it is possible to reduce the eddy current loss and realize a magnetic thin film laminated substrate which is excellent in soft magnetic characteristics and which is effective for a micromagnetic device compatible with a wide frequency band.

<Embodiment 3> In this embodiment, a magnetic head which is a micro magnetic device using a magnetic circuit element formed by using a thin film laminated substrate will be described as an example. Figure 7
FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the configuration of a magnetic head exemplified in this embodiment. In the figure, the magnetic head comprises a thin film laminated substrate 13 made of the thin film magnetic material of the present invention, an adhesive glass 14, a magnetic gap 15 and the like on a ferrite or non-magnetic ceramic substrate 12. By using the magnetic head composed of the thin film laminated substrate 13 having a thickness of 20 μm or less configured as described above, it is possible to read and write magnetic information such as sound and video on the magnetic tape. Since the magnetic head of this embodiment has magnetic characteristics exhibiting higher saturation magnetic flux density and magnetic permeability than conventional ones, it is possible to perform high-density recording, reproduction and reading adapted to a high coercive force medium. It can be done efficiently. FIG. 8 shows the overall structure of a magnetic head having another structure manufactured in this example.

<Embodiment 4> In Embodiments 1 to 3 described above, Co is used as the magnetic atom of the first component and the second component is used.
Nb and Zr as the third component are used as the non-magnetic atom of the component, but the present invention is not limited to this, and Co
Even when -Ta-Zr or Fe-Ta-Zr was formed, it was confirmed that a thin film magnetic material having stable magnetic characteristics similar to that of the Co-Nb-Zr thin film exemplified in the above example was obtained. There is. As the first component atom, any atom that constitutes a region having an amorphous structure and exhibits magnetism may be used, and, for example, Fe, Ni, or the like can be used in addition to Co. Further, the non-magnetic atom of the second component and the Zr atom of the third component to be added in a trace amount form a micro cluster, and the micro cluster composed of these atoms can be scattered in the amorphous material. In addition, any non-magnetic material may be used, and the constituent atoms are not particularly specified. For example, in addition to Nb and Zr, Ta, V and the like can be used together with Zr. Alternatively, three or more kinds of these atoms may be used. In addition, although the example of forming a film by the sputtering method has been shown in the above-described embodiment, the present invention only needs to obtain the above-mentioned microcluster dispersion structure, and the present invention is not limited to the film forming method and the subsequent heat treatment. There is no particular limitation on the above. For example, the film may be formed by a PVD method other than the sputtering method or a CVD method. Further, in the above-mentioned present embodiment, an example in which SiO ₂ is used as the non-magnetic insulating film of the thin film laminated substrate has been shown, but the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, a polymer material such as polyimide foil is used. You may form a magnetic thin film on the nonmagnetic insulating film which consists of.

[0012]

As described in detail above, the thin-film magnetic material of the present invention has a non-magnetic micro-cluster region consisting of specific atoms scattered in the amorphous magnetic region,
Since a thin film magnetic material having high magnetic stability against temperature and mechanical stress can be formed, the use of the thin film magnetic material and the thin film laminated substrate of the present invention provides a degree of freedom in designing magnetic circuit elements. It is possible to realize various micro magnetic devices having a complicated shape which are improved and have a higher degree of integration than ever before.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the structure of a microcluster region of a thin film magnetic body that constitutes the micromagnetic device illustrated in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is the Nb of the thin film magnetic material exemplified in Example 1 of the present invention.
3 is a graph showing EXAFS measured at the K-X-ray absorption edge of the above.

FIG. 3 is an EX of the thin film magnetic material exemplified in Example 1 of the present invention.
The graph which shows an example of a radial distribution analyzed from AFS measurement.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a microcluster structure model of the thin film magnetic material exemplified in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of a film forming apparatus for producing the thin film magnetic body illustrated in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a magnetic thin film laminated substrate illustrated in Example 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a magnetic head exemplified in a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing another configuration of the magnetic head exemplified in the third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a graph showing an example of X-ray diffraction measurement of the thin film magnetic body illustrated in Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is an E of the thin film magnetic material exemplified in Example 1 of the present invention.
The graph which shows an example of the coordination number analyzed from XAFS measurement.

FIG. 11 is an E of the thin film magnetic material exemplified in Example 1 of the present invention.
The graph which shows an example of the interatomic distance analyzed from XAFS measurement.

FIG. 12 is a graph showing the coordination number ratio and the number of atoms in the cluster by model calculation of the cluster of the thin film magnetic body illustrated in Example 1 of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Micro cluster of non-magnetic atoms 2 ... Amorphous region of magnetic atoms 3 ... Vacuum tank 4 ... Target 5 ... Substrate 6 ... Gas flow pipe 7 ... Cooling water pipe 8 ... Thin film laminated substrate 9 ... Non-magnetic substrate 10 ... Non-magnetic insulating film 11 ... Magnetic thin film 12 ... Ferrite or non-magnetic ceramic substrate 13 ... Thin film laminated substrate 14 ... Adhesive glass 15 ... Magnetic gap 16 ... Underlayer

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁵ Identification code Office reference number FI technical display location G11B 5/31 C 8947-5D H01F 41/18

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A thin-film magnetic material on a predetermined substrate, the thin-film magnetic material comprising a first component composed of at least one kind of magnetic atom selected from Co, Fe and Ni, and Nb,
It contains a second component composed of at least one non-magnetic atom selected from Ta and V and a non-magnetic Zr atom as a third component, and the magnetic atom of the first component mainly comprises an amorphous region. The Zr atoms of the second component and the third component, which are formed, mainly form micro-cluster regions, and the micro-cluster regions are scattered in the amorphous region. Magnetic material. 2. A thin film magnetic body is provided on a predetermined substrate via an underlayer, and the thin film magnetic body is composed of at least one magnetic atom selected from Co, Fe and Ni. Component, and a second component consisting of at least one non-magnetic atom selected from Nb, Ta and V and a non-magnetic Zr atom as a third component, the magnetic atom of the first component is mainly Forming an amorphous region,
A Zr atom of the component and the third component mainly forms a microcluster region, and the microcluster region is scattered in the amorphous region. 3. A thin film magnetic body containing Co, Nb and Zr as essential components is provided on a predetermined substrate directly or via an underlayer, and Co in the thin film magnetic body is mainly an amorphous region. And Nb and Zr form microcluster regions having a size of 0.8 nm or more, and the microcluster regions are scattered in the amorphous region. Magnetic material. 4. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic body formed directly or through an underlayer on a predetermined substrate, which method uses a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method or a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. A first component composed of at least one kind of magnetic atom selected from Co, Fe and Ni, and Nb and Ta
And a non-magnetic Zr atom, which is composed of at least one non-magnetic atom selected from V and V, as the third component, the first component atom forming an amorphous region, and the second component The constituent atoms and the third constituent atoms form microcluster regions, and the microcluster regions are scattered in the amorphous region to adjust the volume ratio of the microcluster regions in the amorphous region. Accordingly, the method for producing a thin film magnetic body, comprising at least the step of setting the magnetic permeability and the saturation magnetic flux density to desired values. 5. An alloy in which a predetermined substrate or a substrate on which an underlayer is formed is arranged in a vacuum chamber maintained at a predetermined degree of vacuum, and an alloy having a desired composition is prepared in advance at a position facing the substrate. Arrange a target or change the surface exposure area ratio of Co, Fe or Ni metal which is the first component atom, Nb, Ta or V metal which is the second component atom and Zr metal which is the third component atom. Then, a metal target adjusted so as to be a thin film magnetic body having a desired component composition is placed, and DC or AC power is applied to perform sputtering, so that the first component atom, the second component atom and Z
The content of r atoms is adjusted to control the volume ratio of the micro-cluster regions made up of the second component atoms and Zr atoms scattered in the amorphous region of the first component atoms to obtain magnetic permeability and saturation magnetic flux. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic body, comprising at least a step of setting a density to a desired value. 6. The method for producing a thin film magnetic body according to claim 4 or 5, wherein after the thin film magnetic body having a desired component composition is formed on a predetermined substrate, heat treatment is performed at a temperature not higher than the crystallization temperature. A method of manufacturing a thin film magnetic body, which comprises the step of: 7. A non-magnetic insulating film and a thin-film magnetic material according to claim 1 on a predetermined substrate.
A thin film laminated substrate, characterized in that two or more layers are alternately laminated. 8. A magnetic head comprising the thin film laminated substrate according to claim 7 as a magnetic circuit element. 9. A magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus comprising a magnetic recording / reproducing apparatus for recording or reproducing information using the magnetic head according to claim 8. 10. A proximity sensor comprising a magnetic sensor for detecting magnetism using the magnetic head according to claim 8. 11. A micro-transformer characterized by using the thin film laminated substrate according to claim 7 as a magnetic circuit element to constitute a microminiature transformer excellent in high frequency characteristics.