Preparation and Properties of Ferromagnetic Antiperovskite Co<sub>3</sub>FeN Thin Films

Abstract

Thin films of Co <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> FeN with an antiperovskite structure were epitaxially grown on (La <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.18</sub> Sr <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.82</sub> )(Al <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.59</sub> Ta <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">0.41</sub> )O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> (001) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of the N <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> volume concentration in the sputtering gas mixture on the structure and properties of Co <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> FeN thin films was systematically investigated. The optimized Co <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">3</sub> FeN thin films exhibited a saturation magnetization, Ms, of 1350 emu/cc, which is comparable with the theoretical value. A negative anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect with an AMR ratio of up to -0.88% was observed at 4.2 K.