Modification of yttrium-iron-oxide nanoparticle films using inductively-coupled plasma annealing

Abstract

Modification of yttrium-iron-oxide (Y3Fe5O12) nanoparticle films has been performed using inductively-coupled RF plasmas. Plasma density of the inductively-coupled RF plasmas, which were used for modification, was as high as 1013 cm−3 at the plasma generation region. The Y3Fe5O12 nanoparticle films exposed to the argon plasmas showed a phase separation into Fe2O3, Y2O3 and Fe phases. However, it was found that the addition of oxygen gas to the argon plasmas (argon/oxygen mixture plasmas) showed effective suppression of the phase separation during the plasma annealing of the Y3Fe5O12 nano particles to obtain the garnet phase (YIG).