A Study on the Fabrication and Structural Properties of Al-Co/AlN-Co Thin Films

We have synthesized Al-Co/AlN-Co multilayer films with different layer thicknesses by using a Two-Facing Target Type dc Sputtering (TFTS) system. The deposited films were annealed isothermally at different temperatures and their microstructure, magnetic properties and resistivity were investigated. The magnetization of the as-deposited films was found to be very small, irrespective of layer thickness. It was found that the annealing conditions and layer thickness ratio of Al-Co to AlN-Co (LTR) were able to control the microstructure, as well as the physical properties of the prepared films. The resistivity and magnetization increased and the coercivity decreased with a decreasing LTR. A high resistivity of 2500 mu Omega-cm, a magnetization of 360 emu/cm(3), and a coercivity of 5 Oe were obtained for the films with LTR=0.175.