Magnetic and structural characteristics of ion beam sputter deposited Co-Cr thin films

Abstract

The magnetic and structural characteristics of ion beam sputter deposited Co <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">82</sub> Cr <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">18</sub> films were investigated. Films of between 1000A and 10,000A thickness were deposited on glass, titanium, chromium and amorphous Ta-W-Ni. The average angle of incidence of the sputtered species was normal to the substrate surface. Film orientation was determined by x-ray pole figure analysis. In films deposited on glass with thicknesses below 10,000A, the (100) reflection decreased with increasing film thickness. Accompanying this decrease in the (100) intensity is a narrowing of the c-axis dispersion. Structural modeling of film deposited on glass indicates that the (100) crystal orientation decays away entirely at a thickness of 2000A. The magnitude of c-axis dispersion for a given thickness was largest for films deposited on chromium and smallest on amorphous Ta-W-Ni. Furthermore, in films with a predominantly (002) orientation, those with greater c-axis dispersion exhibited a greater dispersion of the magnetic easy axis.