Magnetic force microscopy on nanocrystalline Co films

Pioneer works in ultrathin magnetic films have shown perpendicular magnetic domains in the demagnetized state. The source of this perpendicular anisotropy is the interface anisotropy developed at the interface. Similar domains could be observed in tetragonally distorted ultrathin films due to the magnetoelastic anisotropy. On the other hand, single-crystalline hexagonal close packed (hcp) Co films when grown epitaxially with the c-axis oriented perpendicular to the film plane may show perpendicular stripe magnetic domains even up to a thickness of about 500 nm. In that case the source of perpendicular anisotropy was the magnetocrystalline anisotropy of bulk Co, which favors the c-axis. In this work, we have grown by radio frequency magnetron sputtering Co films in the thickness range 15-4500 nm. We have used various substrates, such as Corning glass, silicon and Al-foil. The substrate temperature was about 350 K. The films have been found by X-ray diffraction experiments to present various structures and textures depending on the preparation conditions, mainly the Ar-pressure and deposition rate. Stripe- and labyrinth-like domain configurations are observed in films textured along the c-axis, and in films with a mixture of hcp and fcc grains, repectively. Films which show mainly fcc or amorphous structure do not form perpendicular domains. The results are discussed with respect to magnetization loops.     

Structure and magnetic properties of Fe films with pyramid-like nanostructures deposited by oblique target direct current magnetron sputtering

Fe thin films were deposited by oblique target direct current magnetron sputtering on Si (100) and (111) substrates. The structure, surface morphology and magnetic properties of the thin films were characterized using X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer, respectively. The results reveal that the structure of the as-deposited Fe thin films is body-centered cubic with the preferential [110] crystalline orientation. A pyramid-like nanostructure with sharp tip was formed on the surfaces of Fe thin films under appropriate sputtering power. Formation of the pyramid-like nanostructure is mainly owed to the enhancement of atomic mobility and the bombardment effect with increasing of sputtering power. Meanwhile, the crystalline orientation of Si substrate and the intrinsic stress in the films are expected to have little contribution to the formation of the pyramid-like nanostructure. The magnetic anisotropy was found in the as-deposited Fe thin films, and varies with the thickness of the Fe thin films. As the film thickness increases from 604 to 1,786 nm, the magnetic anisotropy field and the uniaxial anisotropy constant increase from 3.8 to 5.6 kOe, and from 0.4 × 10⁶ to 1.1 × 10⁶ erg/cm³, respectively, which indicates that besides magnetocrystalline anisotropy, stress induced anisotropy and shape anisotropy also exist in the as-deposited Fe thin films.     

Control of coercive force of Co-Cr sputtered films

The role of c-axis orientation of the crystallites in the sputtered Co-Cr thin films has been investigated aiming for the control of the coercive force of the film. It has been confirmed that the c-axis orientation plays a very important role to control the coercive force, Hcperpand Hcparellel. When the c-axis of the film is well oriented, only Hcperpchanges with the increase of the substrate temperature Ts leaving Hcparellelrather constant. However, both Hcperpand Hcparellelchange together with the increase of Ts when the film is poorly oriented. It has been considered that Ts is only the factor adjustable for controlling Hc of the films, but the results in this study indicate that the c-axis orientation is the another factor to control Hcperpand Hcparellel, separately.     

Microstructures and magnetic anisotropy of single-layered Fe-Pt alloy films by in-situ annealing

The single-layered Fe-Pt films with thickness of 30 nm are in-situ deposited directly on Si substrate at various substrate temperatures (Ts) of 350 to 590 degrees C. As the Fe-Pt film is sputtered at substrate temperature is 350 degrees C, it shows (111) preferred orientation and tends to in-plane magnetic anisotropy. The L1(0) Fe-Pt film with (001) texture is obtained and exhibited perpendicular magnetic anisotropy as the substrate temperature is increased to 470 degrees C. The perpendicular coercivity (Hc perpendicular), saturation magnetization (Ms) and perpendicular squareness (S perpendicular) of this film are 6.9 kOe, 674 emu/cm3 and 0.89, respectively, which reveal its significant potential as perpendicular magnetic recording media.     

Effects of substrate temperature and texturing on the magnetic properties and crystallographic structures of CoCrTa/Cr thin film

Bi-layer CoCrTa/Cr films were deposited on textured aluminium or textured NiP-plated aluminium substrate by d.c. magnetron sputtering. The crystal anisotropy and thereby magnetic properties depending on substrate material, substrate temperature and texturing, were investigated. The magnetic crystal anisotropy induced by the mechanical texture on aluminium or NiP/Al substrates along the texture lines for the film deposited at high temperature, were clearly observed, while the film deposited at low temperature shows less prominent anisotropic behaviour. X-ray diffraction analysis indicates a change in the preferred orientation of the chromium and CoCrTa films sputtered on different substrates at different temperatures. It was found that a high substrate temperature was beneficial to the formation of Cr(002) and therefore epitaxial growth of Co(11¯20) on Cr(002) for either aluminium or NiP/Al substrates.     

Effect of pH on crystallographic orientation of plated cobalt films

Data is presented which contrasts the crystallographic and magnetic properties of films plated at low and at high pH. Plating from a simple CoSO4bath, an abrupt transition in preferred orientation is observed to occur in the region of pH 4, from orientation of the hexagonal c-axis predominantly parallel to the plane of the films below a pH of 4.0 changing to c-axis orientation predominantly perpendicular to the film plane in the pH range 4.0-6.5, together with corresponding changes in magnetic properties. A mechanism based on hydrolysis of Cobalt ions at the cathode interface is proposed to explain this behavior, which is supported by results from plating baths containing Boric acid.     

Influence of substrate temperature on the texture and superconducting properties of thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-x on (1 0 0) YSZ substrates prepared by glow discharge sputtering

Films of c-axis textured YBa2Cu3O7-x (YBCO) were grown on (1 0 0) oriented yttria stabilized zirconia substrates by high pressure glow discharge sputtering. The influence of substrate temperature on the texture and superconducting properties of the films is reported. X-ray pole figure analysis has shown that a c-axis orientation of the film normal to the substrate surface occurs at an optimized substrate temperature of 953 K. HREM investigation revealed that the deposited material nucleates and grows as YBCO with a large amount of stacking faults and with a few Y2BaCuO5 particles. A dominant cube-to-cube orientation relationship is found between the YBCO film and the substrate. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synthesis of C-axis-oriented AlN thin films on high-conducting layers: Al, Mo, Ti, TiN, and Ni

Thin piezoelectric polycrystalline films such as AlN, ZnO, etc., are of great interest for the fabrication of thin film bulk/surface acoustic resonators (TFBARs or TFSARs). It is well-known that the degree of c-axis orientation of the thin films correlates directly with the electromechanical coupling. However, the degree of c-axis orientation of the piezoelectric film is, in turn, influenced by other parameters such as the structure of the substrate material, the matter of whether the c-axis is up or down (polarity), and the growth parameters used. The correlation of these three aspects with the electromechanical coupling of the AlN-thin films, is studied here. Thin AlN films, prepared in a magnetron sputtering system, have been deposited onto thin Al, Mo, Ni, Ti, and TiN films. Such thin high-conducting layers are used to form the bottom electrode of TFBAR devices as well as to define a short-circuiting plane in TFSAR devices. In both cases, they serve as a substrate for the growth of the piezoelectric film. It has been found that the degree of orientation and the surface roughness of the bottom metal layer significantly affects the texture of the AlN films, and hence its electroacoustic properties. For this reason, the surface morphology and texture of the metal layers and their influence on the growth of AlN on them has been systematically studied. Finally, FBARs with both Al and Ti electrodes have been fabricated and evaluated electroacoustically.     

Growth of textured LiNbO3 thin film on Si (111) substrate by pulsed laser deposition

Highly c-axis oriented LiNbO₃ thin films have been deposited on Si (111) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A stoichiometric sintered LiNbO₃ is used as the target. The c-axis orientation and stoichiometry of LiNbO₃ films are strongly influenced by substrate temperature and oxygen pressure. The substrate temperature 600 °C and oxygen pressure 20–30 Pa are found to be optimized parameters for the growth of textured film. The results showed that the size and the density of droplets decreased with increasing substrate temperature, and droplets would disappear when substrate temperature is increased above 600 °C. The surface microstructures of LiNbO₃ films under optimized conditions are fine, uniform and dense. The AFM images ensured that the as-grown films are good enough to be integrated with the semiconductor devices.     

Crystallographic structure and magnetic properties in L1(0) FePt thin films deposited at different temperature

The crystallographic structure and magnetic properties of L1(0) FePt thin films deposited at different substrate temperature were investigated systematically in present paper. The ordered L1(0) FePt thin film was developed when substrate temperature is higher than 300 degrees C. The ordering parameter S, the degree of tetragonality c/a, and the epitaxial quality of the films, increase with increasing substrate temperature. The squareness and coercivity in the direction perpendicular to the film increase as the substrate temperature is increased and the perpendicular anisotropy is developed when the substrate temperature is higher than 300 degrees C. The magnetic anisotropy Ku increases with increasing substrate temperature and it might be concluded that the magnetic anisotropy of ordered L1(0) FePt thin films mainly stems from the magnetocrystalline origin and also possibly due to pair ordering mechanism.     

c轴取向PbTiO3外延生长的研究

本文研究了ＭＯＣＶＤ法淀积过程中工艺条件对ＰｂＴｉＯ３膜ｃ轴取向度的影响，探讨了ＰｂＴｉＯ３膜的生长过程，通过调节氧气流量首次在ＭｇＯ（１００）单晶衬底上淀积出ｃ轴取向的ＰｂＴｉＯ３外延膜。ＰｂＴｉＯ３外延膜的介电常数为９０，折射率为２．６４，均和单晶性能一致。     

Rotation Speed-Induced Uniaxial In-Plane Anisotropy in Thin Films Deposited Onto a Rotating Substrate

The Rotating Cryostat system consists of a rapidly rotating, liquid-nitrogen-cooled drum, around which a substrate can be placed. The possibility of using multiport sources gives the system wide capabilities for producing new materials. The effects of various rotation speeds of 1900, 1500, 1000, 500, and 0 rpm on the magnetic properties of thin iron films deposited on different (glass, silicon, and Kapton) substrates from a resistively heated evaporation source and a dc sputtering source have been investigated. Magnetic measurement showed that the films have an in-plane magnetic anisotropy for all films deposited at high speeds on all types of substrates and the degree of magnetic anisotropy decreased with decreasing rotational speed for flexible Kapton substrate. While the glass and silicon substrates was stationary, in-plane magnetic anisotropy of the films dropped down to zero. The films deposited on Kapton showed the rotational-speed-dependent magnetic properties. Estimation of magnetic anisotropy confirms in-plane anisotropy in the films. Furthermore, as expected for all iron films no magnetic anisotropy perpendicular to film plane was observed irrespective of rotation speed and type of substrate used.     

非晶FeSiB薄膜中的巨磁阻抗效应

采用射频溅射法在三组不同溅射条件下制备了FeSiB薄膜。测量了溅射薄膜的磁滞回线 ,并利用HP 41 94A阻抗分析仪 ,在 1～ 40MHz频率范围内研究了样品的巨磁阻抗效应。结果表明 :溅射条件对薄膜磁性能和巨磁阻抗效应影响很大 ,其中氩气压强为 6 65Pa ,磁场感生横向单轴磁各向异性的薄膜具有较好的软磁性能和较大的阻抗变化比值。一定温度下退火能够消除部分应力 ,阻抗变化的灵敏度能提高一倍。另外 ,对巨磁阻抗效应与测量磁场和薄膜易轴的相对位置取向之间的关系也作了讨论     

Effect of chelating agents on the preferred orientation of ZnO films by sol-gel process

The effect of chelating agents of ZnO precursor solutions on crystallization behavior was investigated. Two different additives, monoethanolamine (MEA) and diethanolamine (DEA), and crystalline Pt (111)/Si and amorphous SiN _x /Si substrates, were used for this study. ZnO film grown on SiN _x /Si from a DEA-chelated precursor solution shows a poorly oriented microstructure with weak crystallization peaks, while ZnO film grown on Pt(111)/Si shows a c-axis preferred orientation. In the case of ZnO films prepared with a MEA-chelated precursor solution, all films show a strong preferred orientation irrespective of substrate type. This result clearly demonstrates the role of the chelating agent on the crystallographic orientation and crystallization behavior of sol-gel processed ZnO films.     

Growth and characterization of high resistivity c-axis oriented ZnO films on different substrates by RF magnetron sputtering for MEMS applications

In the present work, we report the deposition of high resistivity c-axis oriented ZnO films by RF magnetron sputtering. The deposition parameters such as RF power, target-to-substrate spacing, substrate temperature, and sputtering gas composition affect the crystallographic properties of ZnO films, which were evaluated using XRD analysis. The self-heating of the substrate in plasma during film deposition was investigated and we report that highly “c-axis oriented” ZnO thin films can be prepared on different substrates without any external heating under optimized deposition parameters. The post-deposition annealing of the film at 900 °C for 1 h in air ambient increases the intensity of (002) peak corresponding to c-axis orientation in addition with the decrease in full width at half maxima (FWHM). Bond formation of ZnO was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Grains distribution and surface roughness have been analyzed using SEM and AFM. The DC resistivity of the films prepared under different deposition conditions was measured using MIS/MIM structures and was found to be in the range of 10¹¹–10¹² Ω cm at low electric field of 10⁴ V/cm. The ZnO film of 1 μm thickness has transmittance of over 85% in the visible region. Applications of these films in MEMS devices are discussed.     

Characteristics of (1010) and (1120) textured ZnO piezofilms for a shear mode resonator in the VHF-UHF frequency ranges

This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of ZnO piezoelectric thin films in which the crystallite c-axis is unidirectionally aligned in the plane. The films were deposited by a conventional radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering apparatus without epitaxy. We have measured reflection coefficient S11 of the ZnO film/glass substrate composite shear mode resonator and confirmed that the resonator excites shear wave only in the very high frequency to ultra high frequency ranges (VHF-UHF). The crystallites c-axis orientation and alignment were determined by x-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns, phi-scan pole figure analysis, omega-scan rocking curves, and atomic force microscope (AFM) measurement. The transduction of the shear wave showed good agreement with properties of the crystallite alignment in the film.     

Ferromagnetic films deposited on nanochannel alumina

Interest in artificially grown nanostructures has grown enormously in the last few years because of the potential applications in the magnetic recording industry. In this work we present ferromagnetic resonance investigations performed on Fe films sputter-deposited on nanochannel alumina (NCA). These films form a network-like nanostructure on top of the walls that separate the pores. The geometry is fixed by the channel size, the porosity of the substrate and the film thickness. From the experimental results in NCA of 20 nm pore diameter we have found that thinner films (10 nm or less) are discontinuous and formed by isolated, partially oriented anisotropic particles. An average aspect ratio of ∼1.5 was estimated for the particles forming the film. As the film thickness increases the effective anisotropy (mostly shape anisotropy) tends to reach a saturation value for films thicker than 75 nm. For NCA substrates of larger pore diameter (100 nm and 200 nm pore size) the effective anisotropy is greatly reduced and even changes orientation for the thinner films. This behavior is interpreted as comming from a faster filling of the pores with the sputtered material in the substrates with smaller pore size. Received: 30 March 2000     

Tunable magnetic properties by interfacial manipulation of L1(0)-FePt perpendicular ultrathin film with island-like structures

Based on interfacial manipulation of the MgO single crystal substrate and non-magnetic AIN compound, a L1(0)-FePt perpendicular ultrathin film with the structure of MgO/FePt-AIN/Ta was designed, prepared, and investigated. The film is comprised of L1(0)-FePt "magnetic islands," which exhibits a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA), tunable coercivity (Hc), and interparticle exchange coupling (IEC). The MgO substrate promotes PMA of the film because of interfacial control of the FePt lattice orientation. The AIN compound is doped to increase the difference of surface energy between FePt layer and MgO substrate and to suppress the growth of FePt grains, which takes control of island growth mode of FePt atoms. The AIN compound also acts as isolator of L1(0)-FePt islands to pin the sites of FePt domains, resulting in the tunability of Hc and IEC of the films.     

透明致密ZnO薄膜的恒电流沉积及生长过程研究

采用阴极恒电流沉积方法, 以Zn(NO ₃)₂水溶液为电沉积液, 在经电化学预处理后的ITO导电玻璃上生长了具有c轴高度择优取向、均匀致密的透明ZnO薄膜. 采用X射线衍射、扫描电镜和光学透过谱等技术, 对不同沉积时间条件下薄膜的结晶特性、表面和断面结构、光学性质等进行了研究. 结果表明, 沉积时间对ZnO薄膜质量影响明显: 在薄膜生长后期(120min), ZnO薄膜的结晶性和表面平整度明显降低, 晶粒尺寸增大, 可见光透过率下降, 表明高质量ZnO薄膜的电化学沉积有一最佳生长时间; 此外, 薄膜厚度随时间呈线性变化, 表明可通过生长时间实现对ZnO薄膜厚度的精确控制.