Low spin-wave damping in amorphous Co40Fe40B20 thin films

A characterization of the magnetic properties of amorphous Co40Fe40B20 thin films, developed for low damping applications in magnon spintronics, using vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance (VNA-FMR) and the magneto-optical Kerr effect is presented. Our films show a very weak uniaxial anisotropy and a low Gilbert damping parameter (alpha = 0.0042). The saturation magnetization M-S extracted from the FMR measurements is 1250 kA/m. The frequency dependence of the first perpendicular standing spin waves mode on the applied magnetic field is used to determine the exchange constant A for this alloy resulting in a value of 1.5 x 10(-11) J/m. These values are discussed in comparison to literature values for different CoFeB compositions and other related alloys. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.