Fe–N alloy films prepared using a nitrogen atom source

Abstract We have studied the magnetic and structural properties of Fe–N alloy films prepared by magnetron sputtering in the presence of a highly reactive beam of atomic nitrogen. The nitrogen content was varied by altering the exposure time of the growing film to the beam. The lowest N content film comprises a pseudo-amorphous phase. As N content is increased this gives way to predominantly single-phase structures of e-Fe 2–3 N and ζ-Fe 2 N, respectively. Differences in the hysteretic behaviour of the samples are attributed to anisotropy properties.