Structure and Magnetic Properties of Highly Resistive Fe-Al-N Films.

Abstract

The structure, magnetic properties, and resistivity of Fe-Al-N films prepared by RF reactive magnetron sputtering with Ar and N2 gases were studied. It was found that the magnetic and electric properties of the films are closely related to the process of precipitation of Fe(-Al) grains, and that the N2 partial pressure and annealing temperature play influential roles in this process. After annealing at 450°C for 1 hour under a rotating field of 400 Oe, the coercivity of the films prepared with N2 partial pressure rates of between 15% and 20% was less than 2 Oe, while the saturation magnetization was about 12,000 Gauss. The resistivity in this range was higher than 250 μΩ·cm. These results are considered to be due to the microcrystalline structure resulting from the presence of a suitable quantity of AlN in the films which was revealed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA).