Effect of heat treatment on reactively sputtered iron oxide thin films

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
A pure Fe target was used to deposit iron oxide thin films by reactive rf sputtering. Both ‘‘regular’’ and ‘‘wet’’ H2 were used as reducing atmospheres to produce Fe3O4. Other parameters such as the nature of the substrate material, substrate table rotation during sputtering, and grain size were studied. The γ-Fe2O3, formed by subsequent oxidation in air at elevated temperatures, can be formed over a wide range of oxidation temperatures using a prior ‘‘wet’’ H2-reduced treatment. A slight increase in grain size was observed as a result of H2 reduction but no alteration of grain size occurred as a result of the subsequent oxidation anneal. Different magnetic properties and vacancy distribution in the spinel lattice were observed for γ-Fe2O3 films deposited on silicon or glass substrates.

This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit: