Relation between Plating Current Density and Microwave Properties of Thin Magnetic Film

The effects of electroplating current density on microwave properties of CoFe film are experimentally revealed. The current density is found to heavily affect the particle size, nanomorphology, and chemical composition of the magnetic thin film, which in turn determines the coercivity, anisotropy, and magnetic moment of the films. Although differing optimized current densities are required for different solutions, a film with relatively lower coercivity, higher magnetic moment and anisotropy could be prepared using the optimized current density from each solution. This results in the film with larger magnetic permeability and resonant frequency, which is in accordance with the assumptions based on Snoek’s Law. Hence, a soft CoFe film with unique good microwave properties could be achieved from each CoFe-salt-based solution. The as-prepared films are suitable for the applications in high gigahertz frequency microwaves.