Influence of Substrate Heating on Properties of Tb-Fe Film Prepared by Vacuum Evaporation

The influence of a temperature gradient during film growth on the magnetic characteristics of Tb-Fe films was studied. Two substrates were positioned in the vacuum chamber with one heated from below the substrate and the other heated from above by infrared radiation from a nichrome heater. This produced films with exactly the same composition, but with opposite in-plane direction temperature gradients. Tb-Fe film deposited on the substrate heated from below had a higher H_C value than that deposited on the substrate heated from above. Also, the rectangularity of the film heated from above was far better.