Magnetic properties and microstructure studies of Nd-Fe-B thin films

We have directly crystallized Nd-Fe-B magnetic thin films onto heated substrates by rf sputtering. The crystallographic texture, microstructure and phase composition of the films were investigated by XRD, SEM and TEM, and the magnetic properties were measured using a VSM. The main phase of the films is the Nd2Fe14 phase, whose tetragonal c-axis is aligned perpendicular to the film plane, The films also contain the B-rich Nd2Fe14B, phase, an amorphous phase and possibly the B-substituted NdO, For most of the films, the direction perpendicular to the film plane is the easy magnetization direction, along which the maximum coercive field obtained is 4.52 kOe and the remnant magnetization is more than 1 T after demagnetization field correction.