THE DEPENDENCE OF THE MICROSTRUCTURE AND MAGNETIC-PROPERTIES OF CONICR/CR THIN-FILMS ON THE SUBSTRATE-TEMPERATURE

Thin CoNiCr/Cr films were deposited on Corning 7059 glass substrate by rf diode sputtering. The CoNiCr layer thickness was fixed at 40 nm; the Cr layer thickness, dcrranged between 60 and 400 nm, At der= 170 nm, when the substrate temperature before deposition Tswas set below 100 °C, both the Cr underlayer and the CoNiCr layer were more or less randomly oriented. When specimens were deposited at Ts200oC, the Cr layer was strongly {IOO} textured and the CoNiCr layer was strongly {2ITO} textured. The CoNiCr {2ITO} texture is epitaxially favored by the Cr {100} texture. With increasing dcrthe Cr {110} texture increased and the CoNiCr {2I10} texture decreased. The grain size increased with Tsand dcr. In-plane coercivity, Hcinitially increased with Tsto peak at Ts= 200 °C. As Tswas increased further from 200 to 260oC, Hcdecreased. The squareness and saturation magnetization were not sensitive to Ts. © 1990 IEEE