A coalition of U.S. scientists has produced the first data on how the edges of metallic thin films contribute to their magnetic properties.

The researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology, IBM and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said their study might impact the design of nanoscale electronics.

Ferromagnetic thin films of metallic materials are layered in patterns on a substrate (such as silicon) during the manufacture of many microelectronic devices that use magnetic properties, such as computer hard drives, the scientists said.

While methods for measuring the magnetic properties of ferromagnetic thin films have existed for some time, there currently is no way to define those properties for the edges of the film. But as microelectronic components become increasingly smaller, the edges become an increasingly larger fraction of the surface, eventually becoming the dominant surface and the driver of its magnetic character.

The researchers recently demonstrated a spectroscopic technique for measuring the magnetic properties of the edges of nickel-iron alloy thin films patterned in an array of parallel nanowires atop a silicon disk.

Data from the study will be used to predict the behavior of similar structures at the nanoscale level, the researchers said.  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 02 October 2007   

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