Effect of nonequilibrium vapor deposition on the phase composition and properties of Fe-Mg films

This paper contains results on the ion-plasma sputtering of composite targets of the Fe-Mg system. In the as-deposited initial films, the formation of metastable phases has been found, namely, a microcrystalline phase with a size of coherent domains L similar to 5-6 nm and a Fe50Mg50 phase with an alpha-W-type structure (a = 0.3992 nm). The decomposition of these metastable phases is accompanied by the formation of a mixture of equilibrium phases in the final structure of films. The highest coercive forces were found in the presence of a mixture of phases alpha-Fe + MgO in the film.