Abstract
The magnetic, structural and microstructural properties of sputtered Fe thin films and Fe\Fe–O bilayers were studied as a function of the Fe layer thickness, the type of the Fe oxide and the substrate used. Two different ways to prepare the oxide layers were used; postdeposition oxidation and reactive sputtering. Postdeposition oxidation produced films with mixed Fe–oxides (FeO, Fe3O4, Fe2O3); however reactive sputtering led to bilayers with controlled stoichiometry, Fe\FeO, Fe\Fe3O4, and Fe\FE2O3, respectively. The coercivity of both the Fe films and fE\Fe–O bilayers, deposited on substrates with or without Cr buffer layer, was found to increase with decreasing Fe film thickness. The coercivity of the samples deposited on a Ag buffer layer was much lower and did not change substantially with the Fe film thickness. The presence of the Fe–oxide layer led to a large increase of coercivity. This is attributed to the higher anisotropy of the oxide and to exchange coupling of Fe–oxide with the softer Fe layer.
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