Reactive magnetron sputtered–assisted deposition of nanocomposite thin films with tuneable magnetic, electrical and interfacial properties

Abstract

In this work, different magnetic thin films of Ni, NiFe and NiFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> are deposited on the SiO<inf>2</inf> substrate using sputtering technique. Our experiments confirmed that thin films possess a good nanocrystalline structure. The key deposition parameters controlling their magnetic properties are sheet resistivity, crystalline structure and microtopography of the sputtered thin film. Besides, the reactive gas oxygen (O<inf>2</inf>) also plays a leading role in transforming the phase and structure of the ferrite film. The nanocrystalline nature of the ferrite film results in the reduction of overall coercivity (H<inf>C</inf>). The thickness of the sputtered thin film is in the range of 800–1000 Å. The prepared film exhibits roughness in the range of (~ 0.60 to ~ 0.98 nm). Furthermore, the structural transformation study is performed with X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The quite low roughness, high resistivity and low H<inf>c</inf> make NiFe<inf>2</inf>O<inf>4</inf> thin film as a potential candidate for the future spintronics, optoelectronics, photocatalysis and solar cell applications. © 2020, Springer Nature B.V.