Plasma-sprayed MnZn ferrites with insulated fine grains and increased resistivity for high-frequency applications

Plasma-sprayed MnZn ferrite thick films are built up by splats, which consist of columnar grains with diameter /spl sim/200 nm and height /spl sim/1 /spl mu/m. The existence of the conductive wustite FeO in the as-sprayed films greatly reduces the dc resistivity. However, a useful structure can be developed in these ferrite films with fine equal-axis ferrite grains insulated by the high-resistivity hematite Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ because of the polygonization of the columnar grains and the oxidation of the wustite during an annealing process. The dc resistivity increases significantly after the annealing process, an effect ascribed to the growth of hematite Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ on the basis of impedance analysis. The magnetic properties of these ferrite films improve concurrently. The high-frequency response of the annealed plasma-sprayed MnZn ferrites shows a permeability of /spl sim/700 stabilized to above 10 MHz. The maximum Q factor at about 10 MHz increases from 5 to 20 as a result of the increase of the dc resistivity.     

Recent development of thin film materials for magnetic heads

Recent developments of soft magnetic film materials in the past decade are reviewed. Approximately 20 kinds of alloy systems with high saturation induction of more than 10 kG have been reported in the last decade, although there were only three conventional head materials: Mn-Zn ferrite, Permalloy, and Sendust. A particular focus of the review is nanocrystalline films and multilayer films. Also reviewed are improvements in single-layer homogeneous films of Fe, Fe-Si, Sendust, and Fe/sub 16/N/sub 2/. Almost all the materials reported are Fe-based alloys, and some alloys are nitrogen related: iron-nitride compounds or nitrogen-containing alpha -Fe or Sendust.<>     

Optical and electrical H/sub 2/- and NO/sub 2/-sensing properties of Au/In/sub x/O/sub y/N/sub z/ films

In this paper, we describe the optical and electrical gas-sensing properties of In/sub x/O/sub y/N/sub z/ films with an ultrathin gold promoter overlayer. We have fabricated In/sub x/O/sub y/N/sub z/ films with a nanocrystalline porous structure by RF-sputtering in Ar/N/sub 2/ followed by an annealing process. Gold particles with 20-30-nm diameter have been formed on top of the In/sub x/O/sub y/N/sub z/ films by dc sputtering and an annealing process. We have investigated the optical H/sub 2/and NO/sub 2/-sensing properties (change of absorbance) and also the electrical sensing effect (change of electrical resistance) for these two gases. A combined optical/electrical sensor for H/sub 2//NO/sub 2/ is proposed.     

Iridium oxide as low temperature NO/sub 2/-sensitive material for work function-based gas sensors

This paper presents the results on work function-based NO/sub 2/-sensing properties of iridium-oxide thin films at 130/spl deg/C. Films of 20-nm and 100-nm thickness were deposited on silicon substrates using dc sputtering followed by annealing in oxygen ambient. Sensitivity of these films to different concentrations of NO/sub 2/, H/sub 2/, CO, Cl/sub 2/, and NH/sub 3/ in synthetic air was measured using a Kelvin probe. It was observed that work function of 20-nm-thick iridium-oxide film changed by /spl sim/100 mV on exposure to 5-ppm NO/sub 2/ (German safety limit). Cross sensitivity to other gases (except NH/sub 3/) and interference of humidity was found to be negligibly small. The film was incorporated as a gate electrode in a hybrid suspended gate field effect transistor (HSGFET) structure to examine its suitability in FET-type sensors. The films were characterized using Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and scanning electron microscopy to determine their composition, phase, and surface morphology. The results suggest that iridium-oxide film is a promising material for the realization of a FET-based NO/sub 2/ sensor.     

High-potential magnetic anisotropy of CoPtCr-SiO/sub 2/ perpendicular recording media

The magnetic anisotropy of CoPtCr-SiO/sub 2/ perpendicular recording media, including higher energy terms, was studied as a function of film composition and seed layer materials. All series of CoPtCr films with various Cr content, deposited on Ru seed layers, show maximum values of total anisotropy K/sub u/ at 25-30 at%Pt. The maximum value for CoPt(Cr=0) films reaches /spl sim/15/spl times/10/sup 6/ erg/cm/sup 3/. The addition of SiO/sub 2/ to the CoPtCr films reduces the grain K/sub u/, however the grain K/sub u/ maintains a large value of 8/spl times/10/sup 6/ erg/cm/sup 3/ even when 10at%SiO/sub 2/ is added to (Co/sub 90/Cr/sub 10/)/sub 80/Pt/sub 20/, for instance, which indicates the high-potential thermal stability. Theoretical calculations for media designs of 400 Gbits/in/sup 2/ revealed that the ratio of the high-energy anisotropy term K/sub u2/ to K/sub u1/(K/sub u/=K/sub u1/+K/sub u2/) is required to be 0.2-0.35 to enhance the energy barrier for the remanent state, without a notable change in switching field. The films deposited on Ru seed layers were found to show negligibly small K/sub u2/ values, however, the values of K/sub u1/ and K/sub u2/ vary significantly with the seed layer material used. K/sub u1/ decreases almost linearly as the K/sub u2/ value increases. It is concluded that CoPtCr films have a sufficient potential in the values of K/sub u1/ and K/sub u2/ for high-density perpendicular media.     

Sputtered FeCoN soft magnetic thin films with high resistivity

Fe/sub 70/Co/sub 30/N thin films with thickness from 20 to 1100 /spl Aring/ were prepared by radio- frequency reactive sputtering in an N/sub 2/--Ar mixture. The FeCoN films prepared in a low nitrogen flow rate percentage (<6%) and sputtering pressure (<8 mTorr) have a high B/sub s/ of about 24.0 kG, but a moderate hard-axis coercivity H/sub ch/ of 5-30 Oe. With further increase in N/sub 2/ percentage or sputtering pressure, films become significantly softer, with H/sub ch/ of about 0.1-0.6 Oe, and have a higher resistivity of up to about 160 /spl mu//spl Omega//spl middot/cm. The change in the magnetic properties with nitrogen flow rate percentage and sputtering pressure can be attributed to the formation of an ultrafine grain size nanocrystalline FeCoN thin film as observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The soft properties of FeCoN films with nano-sized crystallites remain stable even after being annealed at 270/spl deg/C.     

Integration of coplanar (Ba,Sr)TiO/sub 3/ microwave phase shifters onto Si wafers TiO/sub 2/ buffer layers

In this paper, a Ba/sub 0.6/Sr/sub 0.4/TiO/sub 3/ (BST) tunable phase shifter with TiO/sub 2/ films as microwave buffer layer between BST and silicon (Si) substrates is presented. The TiO/sub 2/ buffer layer is grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) onto Si substrate followed by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) of BST thin films onto the TiO/sub 2/ buffer layer. The phase shifter fabricated on BST films grown on TiO/sub 2//Si substrate shows a good figure of merit (FOM) of 75.4/spl deg//dB by exhibiting improved tunability while retaining an appropriate dielectric Q as compared to 55.1/spl deg//dB of BST/MgO structure. The TiO/sub 2/ buffer layer grown by ALD enables successful integration of BST-based microwave tunable devices with high resistive Si wafer.     

Ultrahigh-sensitive tin-oxide microsensors for H/sub 2/S detection

Ultrahigh-sensitivity SnO/sub 2/-CuO sensors were fabricated on Si(100) substrates for detection of low concentrations of hydrogen sulfide. The sensing material was spin coated over platinum electrodes with a thickness of 300 nm applying a sol-gel process. The SnO/sub 2/-based sensors doped with copper oxide were prepared by adding various amounts of Cu(NO/sub 3/)/sub 2/.3H/sub 2/O to a sol suspension. Conductivity measurements of the sensors annealed at different temperatures have been carried out in dry air and in the presence of 100 ppb to 10-ppm H/sub 2/S. The nanocrystalline SnO/sub 2/-CuO thin films showed excellent sensing characteristics upon exposure to low concentrations of H/sub 2/S below 1 ppm. The 5% CuO-doped sensor having an average grain size of 20 nm exhibits a high sensitivity of 2.15/spl times/10/sup 6/ (R/sub a//R/sub g/) for 10-ppm H/sub 2/S at a temperature of 85/spl deg/C. By raising the operating temperature to 170/spl deg/C, a high sensitivity of /spl sim/10/sup 5/ is measured and response and recovery times drop to less than 2 min and 15 s, respectively. Selectivity of the sensing material was studied toward various concentrations of CO, CH/sub 4/, H/sub 2/, and ethanol. SEM, XRD, and TEM analyses were used to investigate surface morphology and crystallinity of SnO/sub 2/ films.     

Use of different sensing materials and deposition techniques for thin-film sensors to increase sensitivity and selectivity

The performances of metal oxide semiconducting materials used as gas-sensing detectors depend strongly on their structural and morphological properties. The average grain size has been proved to play a prominent role and better sensor performances were found in polycrystalline films where the grain size is few tens of nm or smaller. On the other hand, thermal treatments during thin-film deposition and/or sample postprocessing could lead to a grain coalescence, thus decreasing the conductivity of the sensing film. Avoiding such a phenomenon, still keeping optimized processing conditions, will increase the sensor performances, maintaining the resistivity at acceptable values. In this work, new gas-sensing materials and new thin-film deposition procedures have been investigated. Aiming to preserve the sensitivity, to enhance selectivity and to reduce the drift, thin films of WO/sub 3/ and CrTiO/sub 3/ deposited by pulsed-laser ablation (PLA) and of SnO/sub 2/ deposited by rheotaxial growth and thermal oxidation techniques were comparatively characterized. Three issues were mainly addressed: the variation of the conductivity as a function of RH, the sensitivity toward benzene, CO, acetone, and NO/sub 2/, and the selectivity.     

Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O: a new piezoelectric material

Piezoelectric ZnO thin films have been successfully used for multilayer surface acoustic wave (SAW) and bulk acoustic wave (BAW) devices. Magnesium zinc oxide (Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O) is a new piezoelectric material, which is formed by alloying ZnO and MgO. Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O allows for flexibility in thin film SAW device design, as its piezoelectric properties can be tailored by controlling the Mg composition, as well as by using Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O/ZnO multilayer structures. We report the metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) growth, structural characterization and SAW evaluation of piezoelectric Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O (x<0.35) thin films grown on (011~2) r-plane sapphire substrates. The primary axis of symmetry, the c-axis, lies on the Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O growth plane, resulting in the in-plane anisotropy of piezoelectric properties. SAW test devices for Rayleigh and Love wave modes, propagating parallel and perpendicular to the c-axis, were designed and fabricated. Their SAW properties, including velocity dispersion and piezoelectric coupling, were characterized. It has been found that the acoustic velocity increases, whereas the piezoelectric coupling decreases with increasing Mg composition in piezoelectric Mg/sub x/Zn/sub 1-x/O films.     

Gamma radiation-induced changes in the electrical and optical properties of tellurium dioxide thin films

Thin films of tellurium dioxide (TeO/sub 2/) were investigated for /spl gamma/-radiation dosimetry purposes. Samples were fabricated using thermal evaporation technique. Thin films of TeO/sub 2/ were exposed to a /sup 60/Co /spl gamma/-radiation source at a dose rate of 6 Gy/min at room temperature. Absorption spectra for TeO/sub 2/ films were recorded and the values of the optical band gap and energies of the localized states for as-deposited and /spl gamma/-irradiated samples were calculated. It was found that the optical band gap values were decreased as the radiation dose was increased. Samples with electrical contacts having a planar structure showed a monotonic increase in the values of current with the increase in radiation dose up to a certain dose level. The observed changes in both the optical and the electrical properties suggest that TeO/sub 2/ thin film can be considered as an effective material for room temperature real time /spl gamma/-radiation dosimetry.     

Reducing dielectric losses in MnZn ferrites by adding TiO/sub 2/ and MoO/sub 3/

We investigated the complementary effects of TiO/sub 2/ and MoO/sub 3/ additives on the magnetic properties, the core loss, and the dielectric properties of MnZn ferrites. We analyzed the composition factors influencing the permeability of MnZn ferrites. A high initial permeability base ZnO-MnO-Fe/sub 2/O/sub 3/ composition ratio was selected. Electrical and dielectric analyses indicated that the introduction of TiO/sub 2/ can improve the high-frequency loss properties of MnZn ferrite cores, but such introduction will also have a negative effect on the magnetic properties of the sintered samples. Introduction of MoO/sub 3/ can alleviate the negative influence of TiO/sub 2/ and also reduce the internal polarization intensity. As a result, the dielectric constant and corresponding dielectric loss may be reduced. We give experimental results in the paper.     

First principles calculations of FePt, CoPt, Co/sub 3/Pt, and Fe/sub 3/Pt alloys

First principles calculations based upon density functional theory have been used to investigate the magnetic properties of various Fe-Pt and Co-Pt alloys. At the 50:50 composition, the technologically important L1/sub 0/ alloys CoPt and FePt show large magnetocrystalline anisotropies consistent with the natural layering of the crystal structure. Calculated values for the magnetocrystalline anisotropy and magnetizations are found to be in close agreement with measured values. Since the L1/sub 0/ phase forms over a range of compositions, the influence of composition on magnetic properties has also been examined. A simple expression, derived from the Ne/spl acute/el model, relates the anisotropy to the composition, or degree of disorder in the structure, and is found to be of value for understanding anisotropy in imperfect structures. At greater Fe of Co compositions there are several interesting crystal structures including the metastable pmm/sub 2/ phase that is composed of alternating pure and mixed planes. Again, fairly large anisotropies are seen as a consequence of layering and symmetry. Growing Fe/sub 3/Pt pmm/sub 2/ films seems less promising than Co/sub 3/Pt pmm/sub 2/ films given the larger energy difference between the pmm/sub 2/ and cubic L1/sub 2/ phases.     

雷达吸波包装膜的研究初探

采用2种不同的铁氧体(复合铁酸锌锰及复合铁酸镍锰)与线性低密度聚乙烯(LLDPE)共混制备了雷达吸波包装膜,分别对热压工艺、介电性能、透湿性能及力学性能进行了研究,结果发现粉末状的LLDPE与铁氧体的混合效果优于颗粒状的LLDPE,铁氧体的加入能明显提高LLDPE的介电损耗,但会使LLDPE的透湿率变大,力学性能变差.当复合铁酸锌锰/复合铁酸镍锰的重量比为45/55,且总含量为30%(质量分数)时,制备出的LLDPE膜具有最佳的隐身及综合力学性能.     

Liquid phase epitaxy of hexagonal ferrites and spinel ferrites on non-magnetic spinel substrates

Using a PbOBaOB₂O₃ fluxed melt which had been employed previously to grow hexagonal ferrite Zn₂Y films on hexagonal ferrite M substrates, isothermal dipping liquid phase epitaxy produced epitaxial films on non-magnetic spinel substrates. The substrates studied were single crystals of three different compositions: MgAl₂O₄, MgGa₂O₄ and Mg(In,Ga)₂O₄. Two different film phases were identified: a lightly Zn-substituted M-type hexagonal ferrite and a heavily Zn-substituted magnetite.     

Phase identification of cobalt ferrite/metal composite thin films using convergent beam electron diffraction

Cobalt ferrite/metal composite thin films with a saturation magnetization (Ms) of 0.729 Weber m-2 were prepared by a reactive sputtering method. The Ms of the thin films increased with increasing substrate temperature. The microstructures of the thin films were identified by a convergent beam electron diffraction method. For the thin films deposited at high substrate temperatures (>300 °C), CoxFe1-x (x0.62) metal alloys were separated from the cobalt ferrite matrix. A cobalt ferrite phase was determined as CoFe2O4 with a cubic structure (a0=0.839 nm) and a space group of Fd3m, while a metal phase CoxFe1-x (x0.62) with a b.c.c. structure (a0=0.289 nm) and a space group of Im3m. © 1998 Kluwer Academic Publishers     

Influence of silicon dioxide-silicon interface trap charges on the performance of monolithic metal-zinc oxide-silicon nitride-silicon dioxide-silicon convolver

An enhancement in the convolution efficiency is obtained by annihilating the SiO/sub 2/-Si interface trap charges in the metal-ZnO-Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/-SiO/sub 2/-Si convolver structure. The annealing process uses a source of hydrogen created underneath the SiO/sub 2/-Si interface by implanting H/sub 3//sup +/ ion followed by rapid thermal anneal of 5s at 900/spl deg/C. The silicon nitride layer is inducted to protect ZnO films from hydrogen influx during low temperature oxygen anneal.     

Influences of sputtering gas pressure on microtexture and crystallographic characteristics of Ba-ferrite thin films for high density recording media

Ba-ferrite films with small c-axis dispersion angle Δθ50are suitable for ultrahigh density recording media. The dependences of partial oxygen gas pressure PO2and total discharge gas pressure PTotalon the characteristics of Ba-ferrite films were clarified. It was found that there were three regions, where films were composed of single layer of spinel type ferrite(PO2≤0.002mTorr), mixed layer of spinel and magnetoplumbite type ferrites (0.003 leq P_{O2} leq 0.2mTorr) and single layer of magnetoplumbite type ferrite (PO2>0.3 mTorr). In the range of P02between 0.005 and 0.2 mTorr, spinel-like ferrite layer plays very important role as an underlayer to decrease the Δθ50of the Ba-ferrite layer. Films deposited at relatively low PO2and PTotalexhibit very smooth surface and Δθ50as small as2.5sim3.5deg.     

High-anisotropy nanocluster films for high-density perpendicular recording

This paper reports results on the synthesis and magnetic properties of L1/sub 0/:X nanocomposite films, where L1/sub 0/=FePt, CoPt, and X=C, Ag, etc. Two fabrication methods are discussed: nonepitaxial growth of oriented perpendicular media, and monodispersed nanoparticle-assembled films grown with a gas-aggregation source. The magnetic properties are controllable through variations in the nanocluster properties and nanostructure. The films show promise for development as recording media at extremely high areal densities.     

Influence of grain boundaries and voids on the saturated magnetization in Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films at a low magnetic field

We report the magnetic behaviors of Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ thin films grown by zero field growth (ZFG) and field growth (FG) techniques during the sputtering process. In FG conditions, an in situ 300 Oe field during growth is applied to a substrate, inducing an easy axis of magnetization. Structural observations obtained by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements clearly depicted a significant reduction of the grain boundaries and voids in the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films grown under FG conditions, thus explaining the saturated magnetization of the Fe/sub 3/O/sub 4/ films at about 0.01 T. This behavior was expected due to a remarkable reduction of the antiferromagnetic exchange couplings between grains for FG conditions. In addition, the zero-field-cooled magnetization of the ZFG samples showed an abrupt change at about 285 K, confirming the existence of defects or other phases in the ZFG films.