Fe 3 O 4 thin films sputter deposited from iron oxide targets

Abstract

Fe 3 O 4 thin films have been directly sputter deposited from a target consisting of a mixture of Fe3O4 and Fe2O3 onto Si and glass substrates. The magnetic properties and microstructures of the films have been characterized and correlated. The columnar growth of the Fe3O4 grains was found to be initialized from the substrate surface without any critical thickness. Substrate bias was found to be a very effective means of improving the crystal quality and magnetic properties of the thin films. The crystallographic defects revealed by high resolution transmission electron microscopy seem to be a characteristic of the films prepared by this method.