Thermal stability of partially ordered Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} film on non-magnetic Ag under layer

Journal Article · Wed May 07 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4869065· OSTI ID:22273728

Zhang, Xiaowei; Wang, Jian-Ping ^[1]; Yang, Meiyin; Jiang, Yanfeng ^[1]; Allard, Lawrence F. ^[2]

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1. The Center for Micromagnetics and Information Technologies (MINT) and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455 (United States)
2. High Temperature Materials Laboratory, Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831 (United States)

Partially ordered Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} thin film with (001) texture is successfully grown on a Ag under layer using a facing target sputtering system. Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} phase is formed after post-annealing, which is detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). High saturation magnetization (M{sub s}) of Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} thin films is observed by vibrating sample magnetometry. It is found that Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} phase can be stable up to 225 °C, which is demonstrated by the Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} finger print peak (002) in XRD. After heating to 250 °C, the Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} phase decomposes, which leads to low M{sub s} and soft magnetic behavior. To further study Fe{sub 16}N{sub 2} decomposition, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is performed to detect the binding energy of nitrogen atoms. Differences of binding energy corresponding to before and after heat treatment show the variation of nitrogen atom in electronic state with surrounding Fe atoms, indicating nitrogen atomic migration during heat treatment.

• OSTI ID: 22273728
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 17; Conference: 55. annual conference on magnetism and magnetic materials, Atlanta, GA (United States), 14-18 Nov 2010; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ANNEALING
BINDING ENERGY
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
IRON NITRIDES
LAYERS
MAGNETIZATION
NITROGEN
PHASE STABILITY
SPUTTERING
TEXTURE
THIN FILMS
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY