Physical and electro-chemical properties of high rate ion-beam sputtered fe films

Abstract

This paper reports magnetic properties, resistivity, hardness, and corrosion resistance of nitrogen doped iron films deposited using an ion-beam sputter system. It was found that longer ion source idling time and higher nitrogen doping generates lower coercivities, lower anisotropy fields and finer grain size films for nitrogen concentration less than 3 at.%. The nitrogen in the films is chemically bonded to iron with a photoelectron binding energy of 397.2 eV. For nitrogen concentrations ≥5 at. % in Fe films, near zero saturation magnetostriction, fine grain, high saturation magnetization, 60 μΩ-cm resistivity, 20 GPa hardness, and corrosion resistance higher than that of NiFe can be obtained. © 1988 IEEE