SMCO BASED SPUTTERED FILMS WITH CACU5 AND TBCU7 STRUCTURES

SmCo based films containing 20 at. % Fe and with Sm varying from 15.5 to 17 at. % have been synthesized to show the transition from ordered CaCu5 to disordered TbCu7 phase. For either phase, the demagnetization energy present during deposition can result in films with the crystal lite c axes randomly splayed onto the film plane. It has been possible to synthesize the high anisotropy CaCu5 phase with either a (200) or (110) texture by adjusting the sputtering parameters to correspond to either a relatively high or relatively low surface mobility during the film deposition. It has been possible to synthesize ordered CaCu5 typ e films with very low values of B-R(perpendicular to)/B-R(parallel to) = 0.042. Previously, SmCo based single phase TbCu7 structure films ha ve been synthesized with close to the usual high energy product 2-17 c ompositions of nominally 7 at. % Cu and 2 at % Zr. The films have been characterized by vibrating-sample magnetometer and superconducting qu antum interference device magnetometry, x-ray diffraction, and scannin g electron microscope measurements for composition and film morphology . The films have been directly crystallized onto heated substrates so that the crystallite c axes are predominantly randomly aligned in the film plane. The crystal structures observed could be switched from the ordered CaCu5 to the disordered TbCu7 phase for small variations in t he Sm concentrations. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.