Nanostructures of Sm-Co on Cr thin films

Author

Liu, Y. ; Robertson, B.W. ; Shan, Z.S. ; Malhotra, S. ; Yu, M.J. ; Renukunta, S.K. ; Liou, S.H. ; Sellmyer, D.J.

Author_Institution

Center for Mater. Res. & Anal., Nebraska Univ., Lincoln, NE, USA

Volume

30

Issue

6

fYear

1994

fDate

11/1/1994 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

4035

Lastpage

4037

Abstract

The nanostructures of Sm-Co on Cr thin films prepared by dc magnetron sputtering were investigated by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and diffraction techniques. HRTEM micrographs show that the crystallites in the Sm-Co films, as revealed by the lattice fringes, are distributed discontinuously in the matrix. The matrix is amorphous as indicated by the microdiffraction study. The size of the crystallites is in the range of 2~5 nanometers. The volume fraction of the crystallites in the film decreases from 91% to 54% as the argon pressure is increased from 5 mTorr to 30 mTorr. Micrographs recorded in a bright field transmission electron microscope (TEM) with a defocus of a few micrometers reveal grain-like structures of about 25 nm in some but not all films. This grain-structure is found to be inherited from the Cr underlayer

Keywords

chromium; cobalt alloys; crystallites; electron diffraction; ferromagnetic materials; magnetic thin films; nanostructured materials; samarium alloys; sputtered coatings; transmission electron microscopy; 5 to 30 mtorr; Cr thin films; Cr underlayer; DC magnetron sputtering; HRTEM; Sm-Co; SmCo-Cr; amorphous matrix; argon pressure; bright field transmission electron microscopy; crystallites; defocus; electron diffraction; electron microdiffraction; grain-structure; high resolution transmission electron microscopy; lattice fringes; nanostructures; Amorphous magnetic materials; Chromium; Crystallization; Diffraction; Lattices; Magnetic force microscopy; Nanostructures; Sputtering; Transistors; Transmission electron microscopy;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.333981

Filename

333981