Hysteretic properties of nanostructured terbium films

The hysteretic properties of terbium films subjected to layered structuring by introducing nonmagnetic Ti and Si layers of a fixed thickness (2 nm) are studied in the temperature range 2–230 K. It is found that the variation of the Tb layer thickness in the range 1.5–360 nm and the nonmagnetic layer material leads to substantial changes in the magnetic hysteresis of the films and its temperature behavior. These changes are related to a change in the structural composition of the films, which consists of nanocrystalline, granulated, and amorphous Tb phases.