FORMATION AND ELECTRONIC STATE OF DO3-TYPE ORDERED STRUCTURE IN SPUTTERED FE-SI THIN-FILMS

Fe100-xSix (0 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 41.0) thin films with a thickness of 1-mu-m were deposited on crystallized-glass substrates by rf planar magnetron sputtering, and the structure of as-sputtered films and the structural changes due to the annealing were examined through x-ray diffraction analyses, electrical resistivity measurements, and conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy. The amorphous structure in as-sputtered Fe71.6Si28.4 thin films transformed into the DO3-type ordered structure due to the annealing at 500-degrees-C, and it was found that three kinds of Fe sites having the internal magnetic fields of 314, 203, and 129 kOe existed in its ordered structure because of the excess Si atoms from ideal Fe3Si composition. The electronic state such as electron spin density and electron charge density of Fe atoms in the DO3-type structure in the thin films were almost the same as those in bulk Fe-Si alloys.