Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 February 2011
Using facing target sputtering, randomly oriented crystalline barium ferrite(BaFe12O19, BaM) has been deposited onto a Ultra Densified Amorphous Carbon® (UDAC) substrate, producing high quality films in-situ at a substrate temperature of 6400°C without any post-deposition annealing. Cross section transmission electron microscopy (TEM) reveals that the films have columnar structure. A ˜100Å thick interdiffusion layer between BaM and silicon nitride underlayer was observed. Films grown at low oxygen partial pressure have lower saturation magnetization (Ms), that may be caused by the formation of some amorphous phase at the grain boundaries as noticed by plan-view TEM. The existence of the Fe2O3 phase in the BaM was also revealed by electron diffraction.