Deposition of Fe3O4 thin films by reactive magnetron sputtering and solid state reaction

In this article, we introduce the fabrication of Fe and the Fe(x)O(y) thin films deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering, using facing target sputtering system with Fe planar targets. Also preparation of Fe(3)O(4) thin films using annealing Fe(2)O(3) and Fe multilayer in vacuum is investigated. Crystal structure and phase of as deposited thin films, structural changes of this system after annealing were measured and analyzed using XRD method. The surface morphology was investigated by AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy). Magnetic properties of the samples were measured with the vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) and MFM (Magnetic Force Microscopy). It was found that the remnant magnetization in Fe(2)O(3)/Fe bi-layer is two times larger than that for Fe(3)O(4), the coercivity value of bi-layer structure is 5 mT and after annealing it increases up to 10 mT. The resisitivity values of thin films were found to be 27 mu Omega.cm (Fe) and 85 m Omega.cm (Fe(3)O(4)). The results show that this method is practical for magnetite thin films synthesis because of comparatively low annealing temperature (450 C) and reasonable annealing time (2 h).