Abstract
Double layered stacks of ZrO2 and SnO2 films, aiming at the synthesis of thin magnetic and elastic material layers, were grown by atomic layer deposition to thicknesses in the range of 20–25 nm at 300 °C from ZrCl4, SnI4, H2O, and O3 as precursors. The as-deposited nanostructures consisted of a metastable tetragonal polymorph of ZrO2, and a stable tetragonal phase of SnO2, with complementary minor reflections from the orthorhombic polymorph of SnO2. The hardness and elastic modulus of the stacks depended on the order of the constituent oxide films, reaching 15 and 171 GPa, respectively, in the case of top SnO2 layers. Nonlinear saturative magnetization could be induced in the stacks with coercive fields up to 130 Oe.
Highlights
171 GPa, respectively, in the case of top SnO2 layers
Due to developments in measurement techniques and technology in recent years, the possibility to mechanically characterize ultra-thin films on a substrate has almost become a viable option [1,2,3,5,7]
The crystal structure was evaluated by grazing incidence X-ray diffractometry (GIXRD), Berkovich tip was calibrated prior measurements fused q by using a SmartLab (Rigaku, Tokyo, Japan) tool to withthe the incidence angle of 0.42on deg a and the CuKαwith radiation, which corresponds an X-ray wavelength of 0.154063 nm
Summary
Magnetic thin solid films can be of interest as functional materials tailoring different physical properties such as ferromagnetism as well as mechanical elasticity [1,2]. Magnetization performance may in such materials become directly affected by local changes in mechanical strain and stress [5,6,7] In this regard, nanoindentation studies on hardness and elasticity are relevant, especially when considering the materials for applications like magnetic recording, where mechanical properties of the recording medium and reading head surface become important. One could propose deposition and engineering of nanocomposite material layers in stacks, instead of mixtures, in order to provide constituent functional metal oxides of distinct composition and controlled structure. In this way, the formation (ordering) of possible phases would more likely be defined either by the influence of the structure of substrates or the thickness of the films limiting the crystal growth, instead of the cation ratio in mixtures. The investigations compared the evaluation of the crystallographic phase composition, vibrating sample magnetometry, and instrumented nanoindentation
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