Studies of electrical resistivity and magnetic properties of CuFe and CuNiFe films prepared by magnetron sputtering.

This article focuses on the preparation and characterization of Cu-Fe and Cu-Ni-Fe thin films fabricated by radio frequency magnetron sputtering, analyzing how the content and distribution of ferromagnetic elements affect their magnetic and electrical properties. The Cu100−xFex and Cu100−x(Ni3/4Fe1/4)x films exhibit face-centered-cubic (FCC) structures with small amounts of body-centered-cubic (BCC) Fe and L12-Ni3Fe nanocrystals, respectively, and show columnar crystal morphology with uniform thickness. Magnetic saturation (MS) increases with ferromagnetic element content, with Cu-Fe films demonstrating higher MS than Cu-Ni-Fe films due to the stronger magnetic moment of Fe-Fe pairs compared to Ni-Fe pairs; coercivity (HC) correlates with magnetic domain size. Electrical resistivity rises with ferromagnetic content and is higher in Cu-Fe films, primarily influenced by magnetic properties rather than grain size or solute content, and differences between films and bulk alloys are attributed to the distribution and segregation of magnetic elements.