A soft magnetic alloy includes a main body and a surface layer. The main body has a soft magnetic alloy composition including Fe and Co. The surface layer is located on a surface side of the main body. A ratio of Co concentration to a sum of Co concentration and Fe concentration in the surface layer is Co/(Fe+Co). A distribution of Co/(Fe+Co) in a thickness direction of the surface layer includes a local minimum point and one or more local maximum points.

A soft magnetic alloy powder includes a particle body and a surface layer. The particle body comprises a soft magnetic alloy including Fe and Co. The surface layer is located on a surface side of the particle body. The surface layer includes one or more local maximum points of Si concentration and one or more local maximum points of Co concentration. The surface layer satisfies D.sub.Si≤D.sub.Co, in which D.sub.Si is a distance from an interface between the particle body and the surface layer to a first Si local maximum point L.sup.Si.sub.max, and D.sub.Co is a distance from the interface to a first Co local maximum point L.sup.Co.sub.max.

One object is to increase the filling factor of magnetic particles and increase the evenness of distribution of the magnetic particles in a magnetic main body of a coil component. A coil component includes: a magnetic main body containing a resin and magnetic particles; and a coil conductor embedded in the magnetic main body. The magnetic particles include large-sized magnetic particles, middle-sized magnetic particles, and small-sized magnetic particles. The proportion of the volume of the large-sized magnetic particles to the total volume of all the magnetic particles is 70 vol % to 85 vol %, the proportion of the volume of the middle-sized magnetic particles to the total volume is 2 vol % to 28 vol %, and the proportion of the volume of the small-sized magnetic particles to the total volume is 2 vol % to 28 vol %. The particle size distribution of the small-sized magnetic particles overlaps that of the middle-sized magnetic particles.

One object is to increase the filling factor of magnetic particles and increase the evenness of distribution of the magnetic particles in a magnetic main body of a coil component. A coil component includes: a magnetic main body containing a resin and magnetic particles; and a coil conductor embedded in the magnetic main body. The magnetic particles include large-sized magnetic particles, middle-sized magnetic particles, and small-sized magnetic particles. The proportion of the volume of the large-sized magnetic particles to the total volume of all the magnetic particles is 70 vol % to 85 vol %, the proportion of the volume of the middle-sized magnetic particles to the total volume is 2 vol % to 28 vol %, and the proportion of the volume of the small-sized magnetic particles to the total volume is 2 vol % to 28 vol %. The particle size distribution of the small-sized magnetic particles overlaps that of the middle-sized magnetic particles.

Provided is a plurality of flaky magnetic metal particles of embodiments, each flaky magnetic metal particle having a flat surface having either or both of a plurality of concavities and a plurality of convexities, the concavities or convexities being arranged in a first direction and each having a width of 0.1 μm or more, a length of 1 μm or more, and an aspect ratio of 2 or higher; and a magnetic metal phase containing at least one primary element selected from the group consisting of iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni). The flaky magnetic metal particles have an average thickness of between 10 nm and 100 μm inclusive, and the average value of the ratio of the average length within the flat surface with respect to the thickness is between 5 and 10,000 inclusive.

Provided is a soft magnetic powder that can produce a dust core having excellent magnetic properties. The soft magnetic powder has a chemical composition, excluding inevitable impurities, represented by a composition formula of Fe.sub.aSi.sub.bB.sub.cP.sub.dCu.sub.eM.sub.f, where the M is at least one element selected from the group consisting of Nb, Mo, Zr, Ta, W, Hf, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, C, Al, S, O, and N, 79 at %≤a≤84.5 at %, 0 at %≤b<6 at %, 0 at %<c≤10 at %, 4 at %<d≤11 at %, 0.2 at %≤e≤0.53 at %, 0 at %≤f≤4 at %, a+b+c+d+e+f=100 at %, a particle size is 1 mm or less, and a median of circularity of particles constituting the soft magnetic powder is 0.4 or more and 1.0 or less.

A soft magnetic alloy including an internal area having a soft magnetic type alloy composition including Fe and Co, a Co concentrated area existing closer to a surface side than the internal area and having a higher Co concentration than in the internal area, and a SB concentrated area existing closer to the surface side than the Co concentrated area and having a higher concentration of at least one element selected from Si and B than in the internal area.

A magnetic material and an inductor capable of attaining both higher magnetic permeability and improved DC superposition characteristics. A composite magnetic material contains metal magnetic particles, in which the metal magnetic particles include first particles having a median diameter D.sub.50 of 1.3 μm or more and 5.0 μm or less (i.e., from 1.3 μm to 5.0 μm), and second particles having a median diameter D.sub.50 larger than the first particles. The first and second particles each include a core portion made of a metal magnetic material, and an insulating film provided on a surface of the core portion. The insulating film of the second particles has an average thickness of 40 nm or more and 100 nm or less (i.e., from 40 nm to 100 nm). The insulating film of the first particles has an average thickness smaller than that of the insulating film of the second particles.

A soft magnetic alloy including an internal area having a soft magnetic type alloy composition including Fe and Co, a Co concentrated area existing closer to a surface side than the internal area and having a higher Co concentration than in the internal area, and a Co concentration degree of the Co concentrated area is larger than 1.2.

To provide a soft magnetic alloy or the like, from which a magnetic component having a good temperature property of core loss can be obtained. The soft magnetic alloy includes Fe. The soft magnetic alloy includes a crystallite, and an amorphous phase existing around the crystallite. A total area ratio of the crystallite in a cross section of the soft magnetic alloy is 40% or more and less than 60%. An average thickness of the amorphous phase is 3.0 nm or more and 10.0 nm or less. A standard deviation of a thickness of the amorphous phase is 10.0 nm or less.