Deposition of layered iron-nickel-alumina ceramic magneto-dielectric thin films using a forevacuum electron source

Abstract

We present the results of our investigation of layered micrometer-thin magneto-dielectric Fe–Ni–Al2O3 coatings deposited by successive electron-beam evaporation of metal (Fe, Ni) and dielectric (alumina ceramic) targets in an inert gas atmosphere (helium) at forevacuum pressure (3.5 Pa). The low-lying alumina ceramic layer provides the dielectric properties (real parts of the permittivity of 4.34 ± 1.8 and conductivity of 0.143 ± 0.001 S/m), while the magnetic properties are provided by the nickel and iron layers. Studies of the magnetic properties using a ferromagnetic resonance technique show that the effective saturation magnetization of the coatings is 5.5 ± 1.0 kG, which is close to the known value for a fully-metallic nickel layer (6.05 kG).