Thick barium hexaferrite (Ba-M) films prepared by electron-beam evaporation for microwave application

Abstract Hexagonal ferrites such as barium or strontium hexaferrites have many existing and potential applications. Among these are microwave devices. In this paper we present the results of Ba-M thick ferrite films deposited on silicon (1 0 0) by electron-beam evaporation. To increase adhesion and reduce cracks, the films are also deposited on thin (#1 μm) metallic underlayers. The influence of deposition rate and post-deposition annealing on crystallographic structure, magnetic properties, morphology and chemical composition has been investigated. The deposition pressure was equal to 0.46 Pa and substrate temperature was kept at 200°C. The results show that, before annealing, the films do not crystallise under the bulk phase of BaFe12O19 (Ba-M) and magnetic measurements show no hysteresis curve. On the other hand, films annealed at 850°C for 2 h in oxygen atmosphere are magnetic and crystallise in the Ba-M phase. The coercive fields of these films range between 160 and 360 kA/m. The saturation magnetisation of the annealed films varies between 0.15 and 0.21 T. The EDX analysis shows that the Fe/Ba atomic ratio depends on the deposition rate. The SEM study shows homogeneous film surfaces and small grains size.