Investigation of RF-sputtered Fe–Ta–N thin films

The nanocrystallite Fe–Ta–N thin films with high Ta content were prepared by RF reactive sputtering. The dependence of structure and magnetic properties on nitrogen partial pressure P(N2) and annealing temperature Tan were investigated by XRD, TEM and VSM. It is found that the deposited films in the mixture gas of Ar+N2 consist of amorphous, after annealing nanocrystallite of α-Fe crystallized from the amorphous. The films are deposited in low nitrogen partial pressure show excellent soft magnetism. It means that controlled crystallization of amorphous is an effective method to prepare nanocrystallite soft magnetic alloy thin films.