Controlling garnet film composition by magnetic-field-controlled radio frequency magnetron sputtering

To find a way to control the compositional change in Bi-substituted garnet during sputtering, we studied the effects of controlling the cathode magnet ic field. The magnetic-field-controlled rf magnetron sputtering method that we developed can create a garnet film whose composition is the same as tha t of the sputtering target. When we deposited a film of Bi-substituted Dy i ron garnet-ferrite (Bi2DyFe4GaO12) by this method, there was no composition al change between the target and the film even after a long sputtering proc ess. Therefore, this sputtering method is effective at suppressing composit ional change during the film formation process. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)34408-5].