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Film Mesurement
Film Mesurement
An induction method to calculate the complex permeability of soft magnetic films without a reference sample
Review of Scientific Instruments 85, 054705 (2014); 10.1063/1.4876598
Vector network analyzer ferromagnetic resonance of thin films on coplanar waveguides: Comparison of different
evaluation methods
Journal of Applied Physics 101, 074505 (2007); 10.1063/1.2716995
Note: Electrical detection and quantification of spin rectification effect enabled by shorted microstrip transmission
line technique
Review of Scientific Instruments 85, 026109 (2014); 10.1063/1.4865122
A coplanar waveguide permeameter for studying high-frequency properties of soft magnetic materials
Journal of Applied Physics 96, 2969 (2004); 10.1063/1.1774242
REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 76, 063911 共2005兲
anisotropy up to 100 MHz in 1975,17 many modifications is difficult to fabricate magnetic thin film on a torus shape
have been made to extend the measurement frequency rigid substrate. There are several approaches for the mea-
ranges.18–26 Using the fixture developed by Yamaguchi surement of magnetic thin films using a coaxial transmission
et al.,22–26 the pick-up coil method can measure the complex line. Usually the magnetic thin film under test is wound
permeability of magnetic thin films up to 6 GHz.1 many times in a spiral format to form a torus shape,1,27,28 and
The upper frequency limit of a pick-up coil method is in this approach, usually the coaxial line works in a trans-
mainly determined by the driving coil and the pick-up coil in mission mode. The magnetic thin film under study can also
the measurement fixture used in this method. The pick-up be conformed on the inner conductor of the coaxial line or
coils used in various measurement fixtures generally fall into placed on the outer surface of a dielectric torus, and in these
three categories: figure-8 pickup coil, microstrip loop coil, approaches, the coaxial line usually works in a reflection
and shielded loop coil. The figure-8 pickup coil proposed by mode.29
Calcagno and Thompson17 has been modified by many Both the advantages and disadvantages of the coaxial-
researchers.18–23 Grimes et al. extended the measurement fre- line method are obvious. The coaxial line method can cover
quency ranges up to about 500 MHz,20,21 and Yamaguchi a wide frequency range. For a 7-mm coaxial line, it can
et al. extended the highest measurement frequency to about cover a frequency range up to 18 GHz. However, this
1 GHz.22 The other two types of pick-up coils, microstrip method is not suitable for thin films fabricated on rigid di-
loop coil and shielded loop coil, were proposed and im- electric substrates, which are often used in high-speed elec-
proved mainly by the researchers from the Research Institute tronics. This method is also not suitable for magnetic thin
of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University.1,24–26 Us- films which are sensitive to mechanical stresses even if flex-
ing these two types of pickup coils, the highest measurement ible substrate is used.
frequencies can reach a few gigahertz. A microstrip loop coil Planar transmission lines are another scheme for charac-
has a simple structure and can be easily fabricated, but the terizing magnetic thin films using the transmission-line per-
electric field around the coil may affect the output of the coil, turbation method. Magnetic thin films coated on rigid sub-
resulting in erroneous results. A shielded loop coil is not strates can be characterized using planar transmission-line
sensitive to the electric field around the coil so results can be perturbation methods. Even for magnetic thin films on flex-
obtained more accurately. However, its structure is more ible substrates, planar transmission-line perturbation meth-
complicated than that of a microstrip loop coil. The driving ods have obvious advantages. Using a planar transmission-
coils often used in permeance meters can be generally clas- line method, usually samples can be characterized as they are
sified into three types: Helmholtz type,23 traveling-wave fabricated, with no additional preparation. Furthermore a pla-
type1,25 and standing-wave type.24,26 A Helmholtz type driv- nar transmission-line method does not require a large sample
ing coil can provide strong and uniform magnetic field, but size. The principle for the characterization of magnetic thin
the working frequency is usually lower than 100 MHz. The films using planar transmission lines are discussed in Sec. II.
other two types of driving coils are based on microwave
transmission lines. Usually a traveling-wave type or
II. PLANAR TRANSMISSION LINES FOR
standing-wave type driving coil can work up to much higher CHARACTERIZATION OF MAGNETIC THIN FILMS
frequency than a Helmholtz type driving coil. But in the
design of a traveling-wave type or standing-wave type driv- Planar transmission lines have been widely used in char-
ing coil, the higher order modes that may appear in the trans- acterizing the electromagnetic properties of materials.30 In a
mission line have to be avoided. By combining various types planar transmission-line perturbation method, the magnetic
of driving coils and pick-up coils, many kinds of pick-up coil thin film under test is inserted into a segment of planar trans-
methods can be developed to meet various measurement mission line. As the boundary conditions of the transmission
requirements. line are changed due to the insertion of the magnetic thin
In a transmission-line perturbation method, the magnetic film, the characteristic parameters of the transmission line
thin film under measurement is inserted into a segment of a are subsequently changed. From the changes of the charac-
transmission line, so the characteristic parameters of the teristic parameters, the electromagnetic properties of the
transmission line are changed. From the changes in the trans- magnetic thin film can be deduced. The characteristic param-
mission line characteristic parameters, the complex perme- eters often used in deriving materials properties mainly in-
ability of the thin film can be obtained. In this method, the clude characteristic impedance Z, propagation constant ␥, ef-
propagation mode in the transmission line should not change fective permittivity eff, and permeability eff. These
with the insertion of the sample. parameters are related by the following equations:
Two types of transmission lines are often used in
transmission-line perturbation methods for characterizing
magnetic thin films: coaxial line and planar transmission
Z = Z0 冑 eff
eff
, 共1兲
FIG. 2. Electric field 共solid line兲 and magnetic field 共dashed line兲 distribu-
tion at the cross section of the region with the magnetic thin film sample.
of the portion filled with the thin film are different from
those of the empty portion. The discontinuities of the char-
acteristic parameters along the transmission line affect the
reflection coefficient 共S11兲 of this one-port network, and the
magnetic permeability of the thin film can be obtained from
reflection measurements.34–40
Several models have been proposed to analyze the re-
flection approach: equivalent LCR circuit,35,36 transmission
line,36 and effective parameter.38 The equivalent LCR circuit
model and the transmission-line model analyze the change of
the characteristic impedance 共⌬Z兲 due to the insertion of the
magnetic thin film, and the complex permeability of the
magnetic thin film are derived from ⌬Z. The effective pa-
FIG. 1. Microstrip circuits for characterization of magnetic thin films. 共a兲 rameter model analyzes the change of the effective perme-
Transmission approach and 共b兲 reflection approach. ability 共⌬eff兲 of the transmission line due to the magnetic
properties of the magnetic thin film under test, and the com-
TEM modes only, so although the transmission line of any plex permeability of the thin film under study is obtained
type can be used, the transmission line has to be operating in from ⌬eff. In experiments, either ⌬Z or ⌬eff can be ob-
a monomodal TEM or quasi-TEM regime. In a planar tained from reflection measurements.
transmission-line perturbation method, the choice of charac- The above three models do not require complicated data
teristic parameters is mainly based on the convenience of processing, and the results obtained from these models gen-
analysis. erally agree with each other.16,35 In the equivalent LCR cir-
Figure 1 shows two approaches of using planar transmis- cuit model and the transmission line model, the equivalent
sion lines for the characterization of magnetic thin films: the lumped elements of the transmission line are determined
transmission and reflection approaches. Although the trans- from the best fit of the measurement results over the whole
mission lines in Fig. 1 are microstrip lines, the two ap- measurement frequency range; while in the effective param-
proaches shown in Fig. 1 are applicable to any type of planar eter approach, the effective parameters at different frequen-
transmission lines. In the transmission approach shown in cies describing the transmission line are determined from the
Fig. 1共a兲, the thin film under test is placed in a segment of reflection measurements at different measurement
transmission line. Due to the perturbation by the thin film, frequencies.38
the characteristic parameters of the region filled with the thin In this article, we demonstrated and improved on the
film, shown in Fig. 2, are different from those of the empty effective parameter model proposed by Bekker et al.38 In
region without the thin film, shown in Fig. 2共a兲. The discon- Bekker’s model, the complex permeability of a magnetic thin
tinuities along the transmission line affect both the reflection film is derived from the change in the effective permeability
coefficient 共S11兲 and the transmission coefficient 共S21兲. If eff of a transmission line segment with the magnetic thin
both S11 and S21 are measured, the permittivity and perme- film insertion. Before the thin film is inserted, the effective
ability of the thin film can be obtained.31–33 It should be permeability of the transmission line equals unity 共eff = 1兲.
noted that in materials research and engineering applications, After the thin film is inserted, both the effective permittivity
thin films are usually coated on dielectric substrates. This and effective permeability of the transmission line are
makes the situations in actual experiments more compli- changed. At the region where the thin film is inserted, as the
cated, and in the calculations of materials properties, numeri- electric field is perpendicular to the thin film as shown in
cal calculations are often needed. Fig. 2, and the thickness of the thin film is very small, the
In the reflection approach shown in Fig. 1共b兲, the trans- change of the effective permittivity of the transmission line
mission line is short circuited, and the magnetic thin film is due to the insertion of the thin film is assumed to be negli-
placed at a position close to the shorted end of the transmis- gible. Therefore by using the effective permittivity calculated
sion line where magnetic field dominates. Due to the pres- from reflection measurement of the transmission line without
ence of the magnetic thin film, the characteristic parameters the thin film as the effective permittivity of the transmission
063911-4 Liu et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 063911 共2005兲
eff
empty
共f兲 = 冉 jc0ln关− S11empty
共 f 兲兴
4 f 共lempty + lsample兲
冊 2
, 共3兲
冉 冊
tribute to the effective permittivity of the transmission line.
jc0ln关− S11
film
共 f 兲兴 lempty 2
eff共f兲 = − , 共4兲 As the effects of the thin film to the effective permittivity of
4 flsample冑eff
empty
共f兲 lsample the transmission line are usually quite small, we only con-
sider the effect of the dielectric substrate to the effective
film
where S11 共f兲 is the reflection coefficient after the thin film is
permittivity of the transmission line. In the calculation of the
inserted.
complex permeability of magnetic thin film, we actually
As the change of the effective permeability of the trans-
compare the two cases shown in Fig. 3. In Fig. 3共a兲, the
mission line from unity to the value given by Eq. 共4兲 is due
transmission line is loaded with a dielectric substrate without
to the magnetic properties of the thin film, the complex per-
magnetic thin film, and in Fig. 3共b兲, the transmission line is
meability of the thin film can be obtained from the change of
loaded with a magnetic thin film coated on a dielectric sub-
effective permeability of the transmission line
strate. We assume that the two substrates in the two cases
K have the same dimensions, the same dielectric properties, are
film共 f 兲 = 关eff共 f 兲 − 1兴 , 共5兲 nonmagnetic and they are placed at the same position in the
t
transmission line.
where t is the thickness of the thin film under test, and K is To calculate the effective permeability of the transmis-
the scaling coefficient of the shorted transmission line, which sion line in Fig. 3共b兲 from reflection measurement, the effec-
is determined by the structure of the shorted transmission tive permittivity of the transmission line should be known.
line and is independent of the thin film under test. The scal- As the effective permeability of the transmission line shown
ing coefficient K can be obtained by calibrating the shorted in Fig. 3共a兲 is unity, its effective permittivity can be obtained
transmission line with a standard sample whose permeability from reflection measurement:
冉 冊
is known, or by adjusting the real part of the complex per-
meability at low frequency to fit the value of initial perme- jc0ln共− S11
sub
共 f 兲兲 lempty冑eff
empty
共f兲 2
冉 冊
strates, the situations are more complicated than what is dis-
jc0ln共− S11 共f兲兲 lempty冑eff
2
cussed above. In order to calculate the effective permeability film empty
共f兲
eff共f兲 = − , 共8兲
4 flsample冑eff lsample冑eff
of the transmission line loaded with a magnetic thin film sub
共f兲 sub
共f兲
coated on a dielectric substrate from the reflection coeffi-
cient, the effective permittivity of this loaded transmission film
where S11 共f兲 is the reflection coefficient of the transmission
line should be known. In this loaded transmission line, both line loaded with a magnetic thin film coated on a dielectric
063911-5 Permeability of magnetic thin films Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 063911 共2005兲
冉冊 冉 冊
the anisotropy field is 36.0 Oe. r共f兲 = 1 + 2 , 共9兲
Using a shorted transmission-line fixture, the complex f 2f
1− +j
permeability spectra of magnetic thin films can be character- fr fr
ized in the following procedure. 共i兲 One-port calibration of
the network analyzer with the necessary cable was performed
with open, short, and load standards. 共ii兲 The reference plane
of the vector network analyzer was shifted, using the value
determined by shorting the beginning of the planar transmis-
sion line. This step is necessary as after calibration, the ref-
erence plane for reflection measurements is at the rf connec-
tor of fixture. Whereas in the algorithm discussed in Sec. II,
the reference plane is assumed to be at the starting point of
the planar transmission line. 共iii兲 Measurement of the reflec-
tion coefficient S11empty
共f兲 of the empty fixture was performed
to calculate the effective permittivity eff
empty
共f兲 based on Eq.
共3兲. 共iv兲 Measurement of the reflection coefficient S11 sub
共f兲 of
the fixture loaded with dielectric substrate without thin film
was performed to calculate its effective permittivity eff sub
共f兲
based on Eq. 共7兲. 共v兲 Measurement of the reflection coeffi-
film
cient S11 共f兲 of the film loaded fixture was performed to
calculate its effective permeability eff共f兲 based on Eq. 共8兲. FIG. 7. Effective parameters of the microstrip line of the fixture at different
states. 共a兲 Effective permittivity of the empty fixture. 共b兲 Effective permit-
共vi兲 Calculation of complex permeability of the magnetic tivity of the fixture loaded with substrate without film. 共c兲 Effective perme-
thin film using Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲. ability of the fixture loaded with film coated on substrate.
063911-7 Permeability of magnetic thin films Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 063911 共2005兲
eff
film
共f兲 = 冉 jc0ln共− S11
saturate
4 flsample
共f兲兲 lempty冑eff
−
empty
lsample
共f兲
冊 2
, 共11兲
4 flsample冑eff
共f兲兲
film
共f兲
−
lempty冑eff
empty
lsample冑eff
film
共f兲
共f兲
冊 2
, 共12兲
FIG. 8. Permeability spectrum of the magnetic thin film. 共a兲 Theoretical
results following Landau–Lifchitz–Gilbert equations. 共b兲 Measurement re- where S11film
共f兲 is the reflection coefficient of the transmission
sults based on calibration with substrate without thin film. 共c兲 Measurement line loaded with the thin film sample without external mag-
results based on calibration with saturation magnetization. netic field. With the value of eff共f兲 given by Eq. 共12兲, the
complex permeability of the magnetic thin film can be deter-
␥ 冑 mined following Eqs. 共5兲 and 共6兲. The saturation magnetiza-
fr = 0 Ha M s , 共10兲 tion approach actually compares the effective permeability
2
values of the sample-loaded transmission line with and with-
where 0 is the static susceptibility of the material, is the out the externally applied saturation magnetic field. Figure 8
damping coefficient, f is the operation frequency, f r is the indicates that the results following the saturation magnetiza-
resonance frequency, and ␥ is the gyromagnetic ratio. In our tion approach have better agreement with the Landau–
calculations, we choose = 0.2, ␥ = 1.78⫻ 1011 共Ts兲−1 and Lifchitz–Gilbert theory. In experiments, the strength of the
0 = 485 corresponding to our FeTaN thin film. The results saturation magnetic field we applied is 120 Oe.
following Eqs. 共9兲 and 共10兲 are shown in Fig. 8. In principle, the thin film sample under test can be at any
It should be noted, in a perturbation method for materials position along the microstrip line,38 but in the measurement
property characterization, that it is desirable to compare two procedure, the positions of the substrate without magnetic
cases that have a difference only in the parameter to be mea- thin film and the substrate with magnetic thin film should be
sured while all the other parameters are the same. In the at the same position. Mainly based on the following two
algorithm discussed above, we compare the two cases loaded reasons, it is desirable to place both the substrate and the thin
with substrates with and without thin film, respectively, ig- film sample at the shorted end of the fixture: first, in this way
noring the electric properties of the thin film. Actually the the repeatability of the positions of the substrate and the thin
electric properties of the thin film under test affect the effec- film sample can be ensured so the measurement results have
tive permittivity of the transmission line loaded with the thin higher repeatability; and second, the measurements have
film coated on dielectric substrate. The electric properties of higher sensitivities as the magnetic field is the strongest at
the magnetic thin film under test can lead to a large error in the shorted end, as shown in Fig. 5. By measuring the FeTaN
cases where the permittivity, conductivity, or thickness of the sample ten times, we found that measurement uncertainty of
sample thin film is large. Ideally, the parameter eff
sub
共f兲 in Eq. our experiments is within 10%.
共8兲 should be replaced by the effective permittivity of the
transmission line loaded with a substrate coated with a spe-
V. DISCUSSIONS
cial dielectric thin film. This special dielectric thin film
should have the same dimensions and the same complex per- The shorted transmission-line perturbation method dis-
mittivity with those of the thin film to be tested but it is cussed in this paper can be further extended to provide more
nonmagnetic. In practice it is very difficult to fabricate such dimensions for the study of the permeability spectra of mag-
a thin film for each piece of sample. netic thin films. By adding a heating/cooling system to the
In experiments, such a special dielectric thin film can be fixture, the temperature dependence of complex permeability
simulated by a saturation magnetization method, which was of magnetic thin film can be studied.37 By changing the
demonstrated for traveling wave coil type permeance strength and orientation of the static magnetic field applied to
meter.25 By magnetizing the magnetic thin film beyond the the magnetic thin film under study, the magnetic field depen-
saturation level, the magnetization of the thin film does not dence of the complex permeability of the magnetic thin film
increase with the further increase of the external magnetic can be studied.35 The magnetostriction of a magnetic thin
field. In this case, the microwave magnetic field in the fixture film can also be studied by applying mechanic stresses to the
does not affect the magnetization of the thin film, so the film under test.40
magnetic permeability of the thin film equals unity, while its Finally it should be noted that microstrip-line structure
dielectric permittivity does not change. In this article, we used in this article is only an example to implement the
derived the calculations and demonstrated the saturation shorted transmission-line perturbation method. Other types
063911-8 Liu et al. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 76, 063911 共2005兲