Suppression of deposition rate variations and of structural and compositional changes in the characteristics of magnetic and magneto-optical films deposited by magnetic-field-controlled magnetron sputtering

Abstract

We studied ways of controlling changes in the deposition rate of magnetic and magneto-optical recording films and of controlling changes in their structural characteristics and composition during sputtering. Our method of controlling the cathode magnetic field, which we call "magnetic-field-controlled magnetron sputtering", can deposit films while keeping the initial deposition rate during a long sputtering time and can create films whose composition matches that of the target. Using this technique, we found that for iron deposition, the deposition rate could be kept constant and the crystallinity of the films was reproduced even after a long sputtering process. For garnet deposition, there was no compositional change between the target and the film even after a long sputtering process. Thus, this sputtering method is effective at inhibiting compositional change during film deposition.