<title>Influence of AIN coverlayers prepared by reactive sputtering on DyFeCo magneto-optical media</title>

Abstract

ABSTRACT A1NfDyFeCo films were deposited on glass substrates by magnetron sputtering and reactive rf magnetron sputtering.The influence of AlN coverlayers on DyFeCo magneto-optical media was studied. The results show that nitrogen surplus inA1N leads to changes in the MO behavior of DyFeCo films due to the reaction of Dy with nitrogen. Furthermore, theinfluence of thickness of AIN films on the coercivity, anisotropy and eigenvalue of Kerr rotation angle of RE-TM films wasinvestigated. The results can be explained based on the internal stress, impurities and the pinning of defects induced bypeening effects' ofhigh-speed atoms. Keywords: Magneto-optical films, A1N protective layers, influence 1. INTRODUCTION Amorphous rare-earth -transition metal (RE-TM) alloys have been found to be suitable for use as high density storage media because of their high coercivity, high perpendicular a.nisotropy, and high Kerr rotation at room temperature. However, the rare-earth element in the RE-TM alloy is extremely reactive. Therefore, sandwich structures are often used whereinthe RB-TM films are deposited on glass substrates and then overcoated with a layer of dielectric materials, such as oxide ornitride protective layers'3. However, the dielectric materials covering the RE-TM films will influence the magnetic andmagneto-optical properties of RE-TM films. A lot of attentions have been focused on the interface reaction between theRE-TM media and the oxide protective layers6. It is surprising that research on the influence of nitride protective layers