Elaboration and characterization of Fe1–xO thin films sputter deposited from magnetite target

Abstract

Majority of the authors report elaboration of iron oxide thin films by reactive magnetron sputtering from an iron target with Ar-O 2 gas mixture. Instead of using the reactive sputtering of a metallic target we report here the preparation of Fe 1-x O thin films, directly sputtered from a magnetite target in a pure argon gas flow with a bias power applied. This oxide is generally obtained at very low partial oxygen pressure and high temperature. We showed that bias sputtering which can be controlled very easily can lead to reducing conditions during deposition of oxide thin film on simple glass substrates. The proportion of wustite was directly adjusted by modifying the power of the substrate polarization. Atomic force microscopy was used to observe these nanostructured layers. Mössbauer measurements and electrical properties versus bias polarization and annealing temperature are also reported.

Synthesis of iron oxide films by reactive magnetron sputtering assisted by plasma emission monitoring

“…The resistivity of the hematite films is stabilized at 10 5  cm, which is almost the measurement limit of the apparatus, and does not allow more accurate measurement whereas a large variation in the hematite film conductivity (10 4 to 10 10  cm) was reported by Miller et al [50]. The electrical resistivity of the pure magnetite (77.5 to 80 %) and iron phases (100 %) are 10 -2 -10 -1 and 3 10 -4  cm respectively, which is in agreement with the values reported by Mauvernay et al (10 -2  cm) [52] or by Ohta et al (1-10 -1  cm) [53]. The increase of the setpoint induces a drop of the electrical resistivity.…”

Nanocomposite , thin films prepared by RF sputtering and revealed by magnetic coupling effects

“…This image shows that bias sputtering tends to improve film densification and smoothness. As shown before [1,11], the average roughness R a can be decreased by about 70-80% when the substrate is exposed to bias during the deposition process.…”

“…During sputtering of an oxide target, the layer grown on the substrate is submitted to continuous bombardment with high energy species from plasma and target, which can induce specific characteristics or properties [1][2][3]. In this study, we tuned bias sputtering conditions to obtain nanocomposite iron oxide from a magnetite target.…”

Atomic layer deposition of iron(III) oxide on zirconia nanoparticles in a fluidized bed reactor using ferrocene and oxygen

“…Currently, there are several methods employed for iron oxide thin film deposition, including chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sputtering, arc-plasma spray deposition, and various wet chemistry methods such as sol-gel deposition [7,[13][14][15][16][17]. However, there are disadvantages to these methods that limit their ability to precisely control film thickness, morphology and chemical composition.…”

“…For example, solgel methods have the capability to deposit films as thin as 100 nm, but it can be difficult to control its chemical state, and many times films are not uniform and conformal [16][17][18]. Sputtering is able to deposit thinner films than those of wet chemistry methods, however due to the continuous bombardment of highly energetic species onto the film, the equilibrium state of the deposited oxide is very difficult to control [15,16]. Perhaps the most common technique for iron oxide thin film deposition is CVD.…”