Arkival Magnetics Logo

Magnetic Thermal Annealing (MTA)

ARkival’s Magnetic Thermal Annealing (MTA) process is used to enhance the performance of  magnetic materials and components. During their manufacture, preparation and processing the crystalline and magnetic  structures of these materials can assume moderate to high degrees of disorder.  The process of controlled  magnetic thermal annealing can remove these disorders and can often provide substantially improved magnetic performance of the materials and even their devices (e.g., spintronic devices).

The heating a magnetic material above its recrystallization temperature in a magnetic field and then cooling will allow atom migration within the crystal lattice such that the number of dislocation sites decreases, leading to the change in magnetic properties and at times, their ductility and hardness.

Magnetic materials such as  metals (in different shapes and forms… wires, foils and plates), powders and thin films can be thermally treated in temperatures up to 900˚C  in a uniform magnetic field (as high as 2.5 Tesla) and in an inert gas environment for MTA processing.

MFM (Magnetic Force Microscopy)

MFM is a magnetic measurement technology for imaging various magnetic structures including magnetic domains, domain walls (Bloch and Neel), recorded magnetic bits and magnetic surface structures and abnormalities. MFM studies are performed with and/or without the presence of an external magnetic field.

MFM imaging of various materials such as thin films, nanoparticles, nanowires, permalloy disks and recording media are commonly performed. The technology does not require the sample to be electrically conductive and measurements are performed at ambient temperature, in ultra-high vacuum (UHV), or in a liquid environment, at different temperatures, and in the presence of external magnetic fields.

The Measurement is nondestructive to the crystal lattice or structure and is typically insensitive to minor surface contamination. No special surface preparation or coating is required.

Sample are usually scanned twice. The first scan of the surface presents the topography of the sample. In secondary scans, the magnetic tip-sample distance is increased and when scanned along the initial topography line and is only affected by the magnetic forces. The signals are electronically configured to obtain the MFM image.

This form of cantilever magnetometry (MFM) can also be used for characterizing magnetic samples and as technique to characterize the magnetic properties of materials and measure the magnetic dissipation in magnetic materials. The magnetization of individual magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) can also be determined with MFM for applications in nanomagnetism used pharma-delivery, MRI diagnostics and biotechnology.