Sputtering-induced recrystallization on the target and its effect on magnetic properties of amorphous rare-earth transition metal thin films

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
An investigation was made to evaluate the variation in the magnetic hysteretic properties of rf-sputtered amorphous Tb-Fe thin films as a function of sputtering parameters, such as Ar pressure and rf input power. It was discovered that, during sputtering from a composite target which consists of rare-earth disks placed on a transition metal plate, the average surface composition of the target changed by formation of intermetallic RE-TM compounds through a recrystallization process on the RE disk surface. Using x-ray diffraction, electron microprobe, and scanning electron microscopy, analysis of the surface revealed that the amount and morphology of intermetallic compounds formed had a strong dependence on Ar pressure but a lesser dependence on power. The magnetic properties of the films deposited under different sputtering conditions were measured using Kerr magneto-optic and VSM hysteresis loop tracers. The results show that the changes in the magnitude of magnetization, coercivity, and polarity of the hysteresis loop of the films obtained from a given sputtering target with various sputtering parameters are the consequence of changes in film composition which arise from the altered surface composition and morphology of the sputtering target.

This publication has 7 references indexed in Scilit: