Structural, optical and magnetic properties of a Mn thin film sandwiched between TiO2 films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Mn-TiO2 sandwich composite films were grown on glass and silicon substrates by alternately using radio frequency and direct current magnetron sputtering. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface structure of the Mn-TiO2 films. XPS analysis confirmed the presence of Mn and TiO2. Transmission spectra show that the absorption edge has a red shift with increase in the thickness of an Mn thin film between two TiO2 films, which originated from quantum confinement effect. The hysteresis loop shows that Mn-TiO2 sandwich film has ferromagnetic behavior, which has the saturation magnetization of 4.2 emu/g, remanent magnetic induction of 0.47 emu/g and coercivity of 377.6 Oe for the Mn thin film with the thickness of 33.6 nm between the two TiO2 films. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.