High rate magnetron sputtering of ferromagnetic SmCo, Fe and CoCr thin films

Ferromagnetic thin films have been sputtered from a modified conventional magnetron cathode (3" diameter). The targets (5 to 6 mm thick) were stainless steel, demagnetized SmCo5and CoCr(15-18 at% Cr). The deposition rate was 6 nm/s at a power density of 15 W/cm². Increasing the power rates up to 12 nm/s could be achieved. The saturation magnetization ranged from 0.4 to 1,5 Tesla. The films sputtered from stainless steel had a magnetization only 30 % smaller than the magnetization of Fe. The coercive force varied from 0.8 to 75 kA/m.