Magnetic properties and microstructures of Fe-Pt thin films sputter deposited under partial nitrogen gas flow

Journal Article · Fri Jul 01 00:00:00 EDT 2005 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1943509· OSTI ID:20713962

You, C Y; Takahashi, Y K; Hono, K ^[1]

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1. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 305-0047 (Japan)

Continuous Fe{sub 100-x}Pt{sub x} thin films (x=44, 50, 56, 60, and 65) with a thickness of around 80 nm were prepared by dc magnetron sputtering under a mixture of argon and nitrogen gases. The maximum coercivity was obtained at the Fe{sub 56}Pt{sub 44} off-stoichiometric composition after postannealing for L1{sub 0} ordering. For the equiatomic and Pt-rich films, partial nitrogen flow during sputtering deteriorated the in-plane coercivity of the postannealed samples due to conglomeration of smaller grains and the presence of L1{sub 2}FePt{sub 3} phase. After postannealing for L1{sub 0} ordering, the Fe-rich films grown in argon and mixture of argon and nitrogen atmospheres are both composed of L1{sub 0} fct phase only, and the enhancement of the degree of order and strong preferential in-plane alignment of the c axis in the presence of nitrogen causes in-plane coercivity increase. By introducing nitrogen during sputtering, an in-plane coercivity of 1303 kA/m (16.4 kOe) was obtained for the continuous Fe{sub 56}Pt{sub 44} thin film annealed at 700 deg. C.

• OSTI ID: 20713962
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 98; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ANNEALING
ARGON
ATMOSPHERES
BINARY ALLOY SYSTEMS
COERCIVE FORCE
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
DEPOSITION
FERROMAGNETIC MATERIALS
GAS FLOW
INTERMETALLIC COMPOUNDS
IRON ALLOYS
MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
MICROSTRUCTURE
NITROGEN
PLATINUM ALLOYS
SPUTTERING
STOICHIOMETRY
TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS