Synthesis of Fe/sub 16/N/sub 2/ films by using reactive plasma

Abstract

The synthesis of alpha "-Fe/sub 16/N/sub 2/ films using reactive plasma is examined by conventional sputtering and plasma evaporation, respectively. Under controlled plasma (T/sub e/=0.2 approximately 0.6 eV, N/sub e/ approximately=10/sup 9/ cm/sup -3/) alpha "-Fe/sub 16/N/sub 2/ films are synthesized on MgO single crystal substrates with film thicknesses ranging from 0.03 to 1 mu m for sputtering and 0.2 mu m for plasma evaporation. The deposition rate is 200 AA/min for sputtering and 100 approximately 420 AA/mn for plasma evaporation. sigma /sub s/ for alpha "-Fe/sub 16/N/sub 2/ films fabricated by plasma evaporation shows 235 emu/g and for the sputtered films shows 218 emu/g. These values are very small compared to the earlier reported value, 2.9 T (310 emu/g). The effects of ordering of N atoms in BCT lattice and the volume effect of unit cell are discussed in connection with sigma /sub s/.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>