Tunable magnetization and damping of sputter-deposited, exchange coupled Py|Fe bilayers

We report on magnetic damping of exchange coupled, polycrystalline Py(Ni₈₀Fe₂₀)|Fe and Fe|Py bilayers, prepared by sputter-deposition on an amorphous 3 nm Ta seed layer. FMR measurements are performed on varying thicknesses of the individual Py and Fe layers while keeping the total bilayer structure thickness fixed. When Fe is grown directly on Ta, there is large magnetic inhomogeneity and damping. However, when a Py layer is deposited between Fe and Ta, both the magnetic inhomogeneity and damping significantly decrease even if Fe is covered by Ta. The intrinsic damping of the Ta|Py|Fe film can be further lowered by increasing the Fe to Py ratio. SQUID measurements show a linear increase in saturation magnetization with increasing ratio of Fe to Py. A combination of in-plane and out-of-plane X-ray diffraction measurements show that Py is textured along the 〈111〉 directions and Fe is textured along the 〈110〉, with Fe texture significantly improving if it is deposited on Ta|Py instead of Ta. By improving the texture of Fe by introducing a thin Py layer between Fe and Ta, one can grow Fe thin films with zero in-plane anisotropy, tunable magnetic moment, and low magnetic damping, approaching that of the best single crystal Fe.