Origin of relationship between ferromagnetic response and damage in stretched systems

This article presents a study whose purpose is to elucidate the damage effects in thin films on their magnetic response. Co(40)Fe(40)B(20) and Ni(80)Fe(20) films of different nanometric thicknesses were stretched by more than 10% and in situ probed by atomic force microscopy measurements to determine their irreversible mechanical behavior (multi-cracking, buckling). Once these phenomena have been well identified, magnetic behavior of these stretched systems has been studied by ferromagnetic resonance to measure resulting magnetic anisotropy and damping evolutions. All of these experimental studies show that the magnetic properties are mainly affected by the stresses generated during the damage but not by the local discontinuities induced by the numerous cracks and buckles. This is in particular confirmed by the almost zero sensitivity to the damage of the magnetic properties of Ni(80)Fe(20) alloy which is known for its vanishing magnetostriction.