Growth and characterization of sputtered epitaxial γ′Fe4N and NbN films and bilayers using electron backscatter diffraction patterns and magnetometry

Epitaxial single-crystal ferromagnetic Fe4N films (gamma' phase of iron nitride), nonmagnetic NbN films, and NbN/Fe4N bilayers were grown on MgO(100) substrates by sputter deposition in N-2 gas. Electron backscatter diffraction patterns were used to characterize the structural properties including the relative crystallographic orientation of the sputter deposited Fe4N and NbN films with respect to the substrate and each other. Superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry was used to study the in-plane uniaxial anisotropy and determine the directions of the easy axes in ferromagnetic Fe4N films. (C) 2003 American Institute of Physics.