Magnetic properties of a metastable Sm-Fe phase synthesized by selectively thermalized sputtering

Abstract

Samples of the Sm-Fe system have been directly crystallized onto heated substrates by selectively thermalized sputtering. Films of the pure Sm-Fe system exhibit only the 1–2, 1–3, and 2–17 phases which correspond to the bulk system. But samples synthesized with certain third element additions of oxygen and titanium exhibit a metastable phase at a composition corresponding to a 1–5 Sm–Fe compound. These samples exhibit well defined and reasonable sharp x-ray diffraction patterns. Room-temperature intrinsic coercive forces of 6.2 kOe and static energy products of 5.5 MG Oe have been observed. These results are for the demagnetizing field in the plane of the thin film samples and no demagnetizing factor has been used in obtaining the inplane B field. Samples synthesized in the presence of an inplane magnetic field at 600 °C exhibit an inplane anisotropy which indicates the Curie point of this Ti-stabilized SmFe5 phase should be greater than 600 °C. Film samples of the pure Sm-Fe system which do not show a metastable phase generally have low intrinsic coercive forces and consequently low energy products.