Tailoring of the Uniaxial Anisotropy of Amorphous Films by Oblique Sputtering and In-Situ Magnetic Fields

Abstract

In order to research the effect of applied magnetic field direction on magnetic properties during oblique sputtering, in this paper, a magnetic field is applied along (or perpendicular to) in-plane projection of the incident direction of the sputtering atomic beam. VSM and magnetic spectrum results show that the applied magnetic field direction greatly affects the uniaxial anisotropy, thereby affecting the ferromagnetic resonance frequency. It was found by AFM and cross-sectional SEM that the morphology of the film and the angle of the inclined columnar crystal were completely different when the magnetic field was applied in different directions. When a magnetic field is applied along the in-plane projection of the incident direction of the sputtering atomic beam, the angle between the columnar crystal and the normal direction of the substrate is about 30°. When the magnetic field is applied to the in-plane projection perpendicular to the incident direction of the sputtering atomic beam, the columnar crystal can be seen vaguely, and there is basically no inclination angle. In addition, when the tilt angle is constant, the uniaxial anisotropy increases with the increase of target-substrate distance, which is caused by the increase of the electron beam inflow angle.