Fabrication of ferromagnetic Fe3Si thin films by pulsed laser deposition using an Fe3Si target

Ferromagnetic Fe3Si thin films were fabricated on Si and quartz substrates by pulsed laser deposition. It was found that the polycrystalline Fe3Si thin films were grown at the substrate temperature of 300degreesC, and this is a candidate for the ferromagnetic layer of the multi-layered GMR film. At room temperature, the ferromagnetic amorphous Fe3Si thin film were grown and it is also extremely expectative as a ferromagnetic layer due to its nearly the same resistivity as that of semiconducting amorphous FeSi2. At substrate temperatures higher than 400degreesC, the FeSi crystallites were co-generated with Fe3Si crystallites on the Si substrate probably due to the diffusion of the Si atoms from the substrate into the film. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.