Synthesis and properties of magnetically hard two element Sm5 Fe17 phase in sputtered films

The magnetic properties and synthesis of the magnetically hard strictly two element Sm₅Fe₁₇ phase were studied for sputtered film samples. Normally, bulk sample synthesis of this phase has required the substitution of at least 10 at.% of a transition metal, such as Ti for the Fe, to stabilize this phase. It was possible to synthesize nearly single-phase Sm₅Fe₁₇ samples by crystallizing originally amorphous deposits at 720 K. In these 5-17 films the crystallite c-axis distribution was found to be random, there being no preferred c-axes orientations. For two element Sm₅Fe ₁₇ the _iH_c was measured to be 14.7 kOe at 293 K with a smooth rise to 31.1 kOe at 15 K. From magnetic hysteresis measurements at room temperature for applied fields up to 90 kOe, the anisotropy field was found to be considerably higher than 90 kOe. The room temperature saturation magnetic moment, assumed to be twice the remanence of this 5-17 phase, has been estimated to be 9.5 kG. All the lines observed in the X-ray diffraction trace of these films could be fitted to a hexagonal cell with a=20.06±0.01 Å and c=12.28±0.01 Å