Micromachined Silicon Torsional Resonator for Magnetic Anisotropy Measurement

Published

November 1, 1998

Author(s)

J. Morillo, Q. Su, B. Panchapakesan, Matthias Wuttig, Donald B. Novotny

Abstract

A novel method for measuring the out-of-plane magnetic anisotropy of thin films has been developed using the existing techniques of silicon micromachining. The torsion pendulum which is commonly used to measure the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy energy constant, K_u, is modified into a single crystal silicon high Q torsional resonator. This article describes the principle of a silicon torsional resonator, the experimental procedure for measuring magnetic anisotropy and results. The theoretical values of K_u for Terfenol-D and Metglas[copyright] thin films were compared to the experimentally determined values and found to be within the error limits which for Metglas[copyright] is better than 1%. The agreement is worse, 5% to 15% for amorphous stressed Terfenol-D, as its magnetoelastic energy is less accurately known. The results indicate that there is no conceptual limits of accuracy for measuring the magnetic anisotropy using the new method.

Citation

Review of Scientific Instruments

Volume

69

Issue

11

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

magnetic anisotropy, magnetic properties, microwave, thin films, Terfenol-D, tortional resonator

Citation

Morillo, J. , Su, Q. , Panchapakesan, B. , Wuttig, M. and Novotny, D. (1998), Micromachined Silicon Torsional Resonator for Magnetic Anisotropy Measurement, Review of Scientific Instruments (Accessed October 27, 2025)