Distribution of nitrogen atoms inside epitaxial (110) FeTiN films

Epitaxial (110) FeTiN films with varied nitrogen concentrations have been deposited, and the distribution of nitrogen atoms inside the lattices has been observed from the lattice distortion measured by both conventional and glancing-incidence x-ray diffraction. It was found that at low nitrogen concentration, nitrogen atoms tend to go to both (1) the interstitial positions between the (110) planes that are parallel to the film surface and to (2) the interstitial positions inside these (110) planes. At higher nitrogen concentrations (N>4 at. %), nitrogen atoms preferentially go to other sites. A relationship between the interstitial N positions and the magnetic anisotropy has been observed. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.