1999 Volume 23 Issue 1_2 Pages 552-554
Perpendicular magnetic anisotropy of Fe-Cr-N nanocrystalline films, prepared by reactive sputtering, have been analyzed by vibrating sample magnetometry, magnetic torque, Mössbauer spectroscopy and ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements. The torque measurement shows that the film has a uniaxial anisotropy whose easy axis lies along the normal to the film plane. The Mössbauer spectra at room temperature (RT) and 4.2 K consist of a broad hyperfine sextet of the α-Fe(Cr) phase and a paramagnetic doublet of the γ'-(Fe, Cr)4Nx phase. The broad spectrum is attributable to a distribution of the hypefine field. The FMR experiment also shows a broad ferromagnetic absorption peak, resulting from the size and orientation distribution of the fine α-Fe(Cr) grains which have the shape anisotropy.
