Ferrite thin films for microwave applications

Abstract

Production of ferrite thin films is the key to integration of microwave ferrite devices (circulators for phased array antennas, for instance). The interesting materials are the usual microwave ferrites: garnets, lithium ferrites, barium hexaferrites. The required thicknesses are a few tens of micrometers, and it will be important to achieve high deposition rates. Different substrates can be used: silicon and alumina both with and without metallization. The films were deposited by rf sputtering from a single target. The as-deposited films are amorphous and therefore require careful annealing in oxygen atmosphere. The sputtered films are a few micrometers thick on 4 in. substrates. The optimum annealing temperature was found by trying to obtain the highest possible magnetization for each ferrite. The precision on the value of magnetization is limited by the precision on the thickness of the film. We obtain magnetization values slightly lower than the target’s. The ferromagnetic resonance linewidth was measured on toroids from 5 to 18 GHz.