The influence of substrate temperature and annealing on the properties of pulsed laser-deposited YIG films on fused quartz substrate

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) thin films were deposited on fused quartz substrate at different substrate temperatures (T_s) varying from room temperature (RT) to 850 °C using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. All the films in the as-deposited state were X-ray amorphous and non-magnetic at RT. The film deposited at RT after annealing at temperatures T_a?700 °C showed both X-ray peaks and the magnetic order. The films deposited at higher T_s (500–850 °C) and then annealed at 700 °C resulted in better-quality films with higher 4πM_s value. The highest value of magnetization was for the sample deposited at 850 °C and annealed at 700 °C, which is 68% of the bulk 4πM_s value.     

Magnetization reversal in bulk and thin films of the ferrimagnetic ErCo0.50Mn0.50O3 perovskite

We present herein a comparison of the magnetic properties of bulk ceramics and thin films of the ferrimagnetic ErCo_0.50Mn_0.50O₃ compound. Epitaxial thin films were deposited onto (1 0 0) SrTiO₃ substrates by pulsed-laser ablation while bulk ceramics were prepared by solid state reaction. When cooling under low applied fields, a spin reversal is observed in both thin film and bulk due to the competition between two magnetic sublattices (Co/Mn and Er) coupled by a negative exchange interaction. Original features are observed in the M(H) loops for bulk materials: abrupt jumps at 4 T due to a reorientation of domains, while in the low field region, the increasing and decreasing branches of the magnetization intersect each other. In the thin film, the ordering temperature increased from 69 to 75 K, and the ZFC anomaly (AF transition) became sharper, compared to the bulk specimen. The oxygen content and the microstructure are crucial to observe the intersection of the magnetization branches.     

Amorphous Ni-Al underlayer-accelerated L10 ordering transition of FePt thin films

In the present study, we succeeded in accelerating the L1₀ ordering transition of FePt thin films by employing amorphous Ni-Al as underlayers. The coercivity H_c = 5 kOe and ordering parameter S = 0.67 of FePt thin films deposited on a Ni-Al underlayer with a thickness of ∼5 nm after 380 °C annealing for 30 min are significantly higher than those H_c = 0.4 kOe and S = 0.35 of the films without the Ni-Al underlayer. The L1₀ ordering process of and the coercivity of FePt thin films can be significantly tuned by varying the thickness of the Ni-Al underlayer.     

Effect of film morphology on the magnetic properties for Nd-Fe-B thin films

The microstructure and magnetic properties of Nd-Fe-B thin films with a particulate structure were investigated. The nominal thickness of the Nd-Fe-B layer (t_N) was varied from 2 to 50 nm on a (0 0 1) Mo buffer layer. The films were grown with their c-axis perpendicular to the plane, and the morphology of the film with t_N=2 nm was shown to be particulate from an atomic force microscope image. The slope of the initial magnetization curve became steeper by increasing the t_N value in the initial magnetization curve, indicating that the film morphology composed of single domain particles changed to that of multi-domain particles with growth. The film with t_N=8 nm, which had a structure consisting of a mixture of single and multiple domain particles, showed the maximum value of the coercivity measured in the direction perpendicular to the film plane (H_c) as 19.5 kOe.     

Effect of oxygen pressure on microstructure and magnetic properties of strontium hexaferrite (SrFe12O19) film prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The effects of oxygen pressure during deposition on microstructure and magnetic properties of strontium hexaferrite (SrFe₁₂O₁₉) films grown on Si (100) substrate with Pt (111) underlayer by pulsed laser deposition have been investigated. X-ray diffraction pattern confirms that the films have c-axis perpendicular orientation. The c-axis dispersion (Δθ₅₀) increases and c-axis lattice parameter decreases with increasing oxygen pressure. The films have hexagonal shape grains with diameter of 150-250 nm as determined by atomic force microscopy. The coercivities in perpendicular direction are higher than those in in-plane direction, which shows the films have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The saturation magnetization and anisotropy field for the film deposited in oxygen pressure of 0.13 mbar are comparable to those of the bulk strontium hexaferrite. Higher oxygen pressure leads to the films having higher coercivity and squareness. The coercivity in perpendicular and in-plane directions of the film deposited in oxygen pressure of 0.13 mbar are 2520 Oe and 870 Oe, respectively.     

Effects of the Hf content on the microstructure and magnetic properties of Co-Hf-Ta thin films

Effects of the Hf content in Co-Hf-Ta thin films on the microstructure and magnetic properties were investigated in this study. It was found that appropriate Hf addition can effectively refine the Co grain size. Co grain sizes sharply decreased from 50 nm down to 2.3 nm with increasing the Hf content from 1.02 at.% to 2.81 at.%, leading to the reduced magneto-crystalline anisotropy. The Co-Hf-Ta thin films with small Co grains reveal low anisotropy field, low coercivity, and high resistivity. By optimizing the Hf content, the film with Hf concentration of 2.81 at.% exhibits excellent soft magnetic properties: high saturation magnetization (4πM_S ∼ 13.6 kG), and low coercivity (H_C ∼ 0.6 Oe). The effective permeability of the film reaches 800 and remains constant up to 1 GHz.     

Effect of Co underlayer on soft magnetic properties and microstructure of FeCo thin films

High saturation magnetization soft magnetic FeCo (=Fe₆₅Co₃₅) films were prepared using a thin Co underlayer. The FeCo/Co films exhibited a well-defined in-plane uniaxial anisotropy with easy axis coercivity (H_ce) of 10 Oe and hard axis coercivity (H_ch) of 3 Oe, and a half reduction of H_c with H_ce=4.8 Oe and H_ch=1.0 Oe was obtained when the composition was adjusted to 25 at% Co. The effective permeability of the films remains flat around 250 to 800 MHz. The saturation magnetostriction was 5.2×10⁻⁵ and the intrinsic stress was 0.8 GPa in FeCo single layer, both were slightly reduced by Co underlayer. The Co underlayer changed the preferred orientation of the FeCo films from (2 0 0) to (1 1 0) but more significantly, reduced the average grain size from ∼74 to ∼8.2 nm. It also reduced the surface roughness from 2.351 to 0.751 nm. The initial stage and interface diffusion properties were examined by TEM and XPS.     

Microstructure and magnetic properties of Ni-rich Ni54Mn25.7Ga20.3 ferromagnetic shape memory alloy thin film

A Ni₅₄Mn_25.7Ga_20.3 ferromagnetic shape memory alloy thin film has been fabricated by using the RF magnetron-sputtering technique. The structure and magnetic properties of the film were systematically investigated. The results show that the film is in ferromagnetic martensite state at room temperature with the Curie temperature (T_c) of about 370 K. The saturation magnetization (M_s) of the film reaches 45 emu/g at 300 K, which is about 80% as large as that of Ni–Mn–Ga bulk material. The magnetization hysteresis loops significantly depend on temperatures. The residual magnetization (M_r) and the coercive force (H_c) increase with decreasing temperatures. The grains homogeneously distribute in the film. The microstructure of the film consists of martensite plates. The interface between the martensite variants is clear and straight, indicating a good mobility.     

The electrodeposition behaviors and magnetic properties of Ni-Co films

Ni-Co films with different compositions and microstructures were produced on ITO glasses by electrodeposition from sulphate bath at 25 °C. Cyclic voltammograms give a result that the increase in the Co²⁺ concentration displaces Ni-Co alloy oxidation peaks to negative potential with high Co current distributions. It is observed that the content of cobalt in the films increases from 22.42% to 56.09% as the molar ratio of CoSO₄/NiSO₄ varying from 0.015/0.085 to 0.045/0.055 in electrolyte. XRD patterns reveal that the structure of the films strongly depends on the Co content in the deposited films. The saturation magnetization (M_s) moves up from 144.84 kA m⁻¹ to 342.35 kA m⁻¹ and coercivity (H_c) falls from 15.27 kA m⁻¹ to 7.27 kA m⁻¹ with the heat treatment temperature increasing from 25 °C to 450 °C. The saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) move up from 340.97 kA m⁻¹ and 7.98 kA m⁻¹ to 971.58 kA m⁻¹ and 18.62 kA m⁻¹ with the Co content increasing from 22.42% to 56.09% after annealing at 450.     

Magnetization reversal process and intrinsic coercivity of sputtered Sm2Co17-based films

The Sm₂Co₁₇-based intermetallic films with additives of Fe, Cu, and Zr have been deposited on Si(1 0 0) substrates by dc magnetron sputtering process. Subsequent thermal treatment and the film thickness are found to have significant contribution to the crystal structure and grain structure, which determines the magnetization reversal process and intrinsic coercivity (H_C) of these films. The conventional thermal annealing (CTA) treatment almost failed to crystallize the as-deposited films, leading to a very low H_C. Continuous and homogeneous domain walls cannot form in this deteriorated microstructure, so that the pinning mechanism can be excluded. Contrarily, the films with thickness exceeding 0.8 μm treated by rapid recurrent thermal annealing (RRTA) show an improved H_C, which is attributed to the observed completed crystallization and compact microstructure. It is suggested that this film structure is responsible for providing continuous and homogeneous domain walls, leading to a magnetization reversal process controlled by domain wall pinning model. In special, the H_C of the RRTA-treated film with thickness of 1.8 μm shows a good temperature dependence from 25 to 300 °C, with intrinsic coercivity temperature coefficient β of −0.23%/°C.     

Anomalous Hall effect in Cu and Fe codoped In2O3 and ITO thin films

We present a systematic study of the structure, magnetization, resistivity, and Hall effect properties of pulsed laser deposited Fe- and Cu-codoped In₂O₃ and indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin films. Both the films show a clear ferromagnetism and anomalous Hall effect at 300 K. The saturated magnetic moments are almost the same for the two samples, but their remanent moments M_r and coercive fields H_C are quite different. M_r and H_C values of ITO film are much smaller than that of In₂O₃. The ITO sample shows a typical semiconducting behavior in whole studied temperature range, while the In₂O₃ thin film is metallic in the temperature range between 147 and 285 K. Analysis of different conduction mechanisms suggest that charge carriers are not localized in the present films. The profile of the anomalous Hall effect vs. magnetic field was found to be identical to the magnetic hysteresis loops, indicating the possible intrinsic nature of ferromagnetism in the present samples.     

Magnetic properties of CoFeP films prepared by electroless deposition

Structure and magnetization of CoFeP films prepared by the electroless deposition were systematically investigated by varying the bath composition and deposition parameters to optimize soft magnetic properties. The cobalt content in the CoFeP films varies from 40.4 to 94.9 wt% by controlling the bath composition. Increase of the metallic ratio FeSO₄·7H₂O/(CoSO₄·7H₂O+FeSO₄·7H₂O) affects the films’ microstructure, which switches from amorphous to crystalline structure. The magnetic properties of CoFeP films reveal that the coercivity (H_c) values range from 80 up to 185 A/m and the saturation magnetization (M_s) from 82 to 580 eum/g depending on the bath composition, deposition parameters and heat-treatment conditions. Increase of M_s and remanent magnetization (M_r) as well as decrease of H_c are observed for the CoFeP films with bath pH, temperature and the metallic molar ratio increasing. It is also found that the H_c is enhanced with the increase of NaH₂PO₂·H₂O concentration. CoFeP films showing good soft magnetic properties with coercivities less than 140 A/m and M_s close to 600 emu/g can be obtained in high pH bath and thereafter heat treatment. The deposit is found to be suitable as soft magnetic materials for core materials.     

Structure,magnetic properties and magnetostriction of Fe81Ga19 thin films

The structure, magnetic properties and magnetostriction of Fe₈₁Ga₁₉ thin films have been investigated by using X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer and capacitive cantilever method. It was found that the grain size of as-deposited Fe₈₁Ga₁₉ thin films is 50–60 nm and the grain size increases with increase in the annealing temperature. The remanence ratio (M_r/M_s) of the thin films slowly decreases with increase in the annealing temperature. However, the coercivity of the thin films goes the opposite way with increase in the annealing temperature. A preferential orientation of the Fe₈₁Ga₁₉ thin film fabricated under an applied magnetic field exists along 〈1 0 0〉 direction due to the function of magnetic field during sputtering. An in-plane-induced anisotropy of the thin film is well formed by the applied magnetic field during the sputtering and the formation of in-plane-induced anisotropy results in 90° rotations of the magnetic domains during magnetization and in the increase of magnetostriction for the thin film.     

Magnetic,structural and electrical properties of ordered and disordered Co50Fe50 films

Co₅₀Fe₅₀ films with thickness varying from 100 to 500 Å were deposited on a glass substrate by sputtering process, respectively. Two kinds of CoFe films were studied: one was the as-deposited film, and the other the annealed film. The annealing procedure was to keep the films at 400 °C for 5 h in a vacuum of 5×10⁻⁶ mbar. From the X-ray study, we find that the as-deposited film prefers the CoFe(1 1 0) orientation. Moreover, the body-centered cubic (bcc) CoFe(1 1 0) line is split into two peaks: one corresponding to the ordered body-centered tetragonal (bct) phase, and the other, the disordered bcc phase. After annealing, the peak intensity of the ordered bct phase becomes much stronger, while that of the disordered bcc phase disappears. The annealing has also caused the ordered CoFe(2 0 0) line to appear. When the amount of the ordered bct phase in Co₅₀Fe₅₀ is increased, the saturation magnetization (M_s) and coercivity (H_c) become larger, but the electrical resistivity (ρ) decreases. From the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) measurement, we learn that the bct grains in the CoFe film start to grow at temperature 82 °C.     

Magnetic properties of strontium hexaferrite films prepared by pulsed laser deposition

The magnetic properties of strontium hexaferrite (SrFe₁₂O₁₉) films fabricated by pulsed laser deposition on the Si(100) substrate with Pt(111) underlayer have been studied as a function of film thickness (50–700 nm). X-ray diffraction patterns confirm that the films have c-axis perpendicular orientation. The coercivities in perpendicular direction are higher than those for in-plane direction which indicates the films have perpendicular magnetic anisotropy. The coercivity was found to decrease with increasing of thickness, due to the increasing of the grain size and relaxation in lattice strain. The 200 nm thick film exhibits hexagonal shape grains of 150 nm and optimum magnetic properties of M_s=298 emu/cm³ and H_c=2540 Oe.     

Effect of Cr100−xTix (x = 0-19 at.%) alloy underlayers on the high coercivity of FePt thin film below the substrate temperature of 250 °C

The effect of Cr_100−xTi_x underlayer on orderd-L1₀ FePt films was investigated. A low-temperature ordering of FePt films could be attained through changing the Ti content of Cr_100−xTi_x underlayer. The ordering temperature of the 30 nm FePt film grown on 20 nm Cr₉₀Ti₁₀ underlayer was reduced to 250 °C which is practical manufacture process temperature. An in-plane coercivity was very high to 6000 Oe and a ratio of remnant magnetization (M_r) to saturation magnetization (M_s) was as large as 0.85. This result indicates that the coercivity obtained at 250 °C by the effect of CrTi underlayer is significantly higher than those obtained at 250-275 °C by the effect of underlayers in other conventional studies. The prominent improvement of the magnetic properties of ordered FePt thin films at low temperature of 250 °C could be understood with considering the strain-induced ordering phase transformation associated with lattice mismatch between Cr underlayer and FePt magnetic layer due to an addition of Ti content.     

Synthesis and characterization of Ni-doped ZnO: A transparent magnetic semiconductor

We report synthesis of a transparent magnetic semiconductor by incorporating Ni in zinc oxide (ZnO) matrix. ZnO and nickel-doped zinc oxide (ZnO:Ni) thin films (∼60 nm) are prepared by fast atom beam (FAB) sputtering. Both undoped and doped films show the presence of ZnO phase only. The Ni concentration (in at%) as determined by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) technique is ∼12±2%. Magnetisation measurement using a SQUID magnetometer shows that the Ni-doped films are ferromagnetic, having coercivity (H_c) values 192, 310 and 100 Oe and saturation magnetization (M_s) values of 6.22, 5.32 and 4.73 emu/g at 5, 15 and 300 K, respectively. The Ni-doped film is transparent (>80%) across visible wavelength range. Resistivity of the ZnO:Ni film is ∼2.5×10⁻³ Ω cm, which is almost two orders of magnitude lower than the resistivity (∼4.5×10⁻¹ Ω cm) of its undoped counterpart. Impurity d-band splitting is considered to be the cause of increase in conductivity. Interaction between free charges generated by doping and localized d spins of Ni is discussed as the reason for ferromagnetism in the ZnO:Ni film.     

Synthesis, magnetic and dielectric properties of Er-Ni doped Sr-hexaferrite nanomaterials for applications in High density recording media and microwave devices

A sol-gel combustion method has been successfully employed for the synthesis of Sr-hexaferrite nanomaterials doped with Er³⁺ and Ni²⁺ at strontium and iron sites, respectively. The X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the single magnetoplumbite phase and the crystallite size was found to be in the range of 14-16 nm, suitable for obtaining signal-to-noise ratio in the high density recording media. The magnetic properties such as saturation magnetization (M_s), remanence (M_r) and coercivity (H_c) were calculated from hysteresis loops. M_s, M_r and H_c are observed to increase with the Er-Ni content. The dielectric constant (ε´) and dielectric loss (tan δ) is found to decrease with the increase in frequency and is explained on the basis of Maxwell-Wagner and Koops theory. The decrease in dielectric constant and dielectric loss but increase in saturation magnetization and remanence with Er-Ni content suggests that the materials are suitable for applications in microwave devices and high density recording media .     

Crystallographic and magnetic properties of SrM thin films on Pt underlayer prepared at various substrate temperatures

Strontium ferrite (SrM) thin films deposited on thermally oxidized silicon wafer (SiO₂/Si) and single crystal sapphire with (0 0 l) orientation (Al₂O₃(0 0 l)) substrate using Pt underlayer were prepared by DC magnetron sputtering system. It was found that the intensity of (1 1 1) line for Pt and that of (0 0 l) diffraction line for SrM increases with increasing substrate temperature, T_u. The c-axis dispersion angle, Δθ₅₀, of SrM(0 0 8) depends on that of Pt underlayer. Both dispersion angle of Pt(1 1 1) and SrM(0 0 8) decrease with increasing temperature. It was observed that the saturation magnetization of SrM/Pt deposited on SiO₂/Si is higher than that of Al₂O₃ substrate. The coercivity and remanent squareness ratio in perpendicular direction are higher than that in in-plane direction. The maximum of coercivity in perpendicular direction of SrM/Pt films deposited on single crystal Al₂O₃ is about 4.2 kOe.     

Ferromagnetism in amorphous Ge1−xMnx grown by low temperature vapor deposition

Magnetic properties of amorphous Ge_1−xMn_x thin films were investigated. The thin films were grown at 373 K on (100) Si wafers by using a thermal evaporator. Growth rate was ∼35 nm/min and average film thickness was around 500 nm. The electrical resistivities of Ge_1−xMn_x thin films are 5.0×10⁻⁴∼100 Ω cm at room temperature and decrease with increasing Mn concentration. Low temperature magnetization characteristics and magnetic hysteresis loops measured at various temperatures show that the amorphous Ge_1−xMn_x thin films are ferromagnetic but the ferromagnetic magnetizations are changing gradually into paramagnetic as increasing temperature. Curie temperature and saturation magnetization vary with Mn concentration. Curie temperature of the deposited films is 80-160 K, and saturation magnetization is 35-100 emu/cc at 5 K. Hall effect measurement at room temperature shows the amorphous Ge_1−xMn_x thin films have p-type carrier and hole densities are in the range from 7×10¹⁷ to 2×10²² cm⁻³.