Sputter deposition of bismuth and aluminum substituted dysprosium iron garnet films using sol-gel derived targets

Bismuth and aluminum substituted dysprosium iron garnet (Bi, Al:DylG) films were prepared by r.f. sputtering using sol-gel derived targets. The sol-gel derived target was coating on a rigid wafer. The coating was derived from the paste formed by a mixture of powders and viscous sol, which were prepared by the sol-gel process using \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $${\text{Bi}}^{{\text{3 + }}} {\text{,Dy}}^{{\text{3 + }}} {\text{,Fe}}^{{\text{3 + }}} {\text{, and Al}}^{{\text{3 + }}} $$ \end{document} nitrates as precursors, in appropriate stoichiometric ratios of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} $${\text{(Dy}}_{3 - x} {\text{Bi}}_x {\text{)(Fe}}_{5 - y} {\text{Al}}_y {\text{)O}}_{12} $$ \end{document}. X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns show that the crystallized films sputtered from the sol-gel derived targets are single phase garnet in nature, indicating that the sol-gel derived target is indeed a feasible alternative to a ceramic target. Magneto-optical measurements show that the prepared garnet film exhibits a strongest Faraday rotation of about 4.5°/μm at a wavelength of 550 nm. It is believed that this sol-gel method for preparing the sputtering targets comprised of multi-component oxides provides a low cost target preparation process.