Ferrimagnetic Mn,N films were deposited on Si (100) substrate by dc reactive magnetron sputtering from sintered Mn target. Highly (002) textured Mn,N ordered phase is formed in situ at studied substrate temperatures of 150-250 “C without further annealing. Anomalous perpendicular magnetoanisotropy exists in these face-centered cubic films with larger coercivity measured perpendicular to the fil...

Sustaining a plasma in a magnetron discharge requires energization of the plasma electrons. In this work, Ohmic heating of electrons outside the cathode sheath is demonstrated to be typically of the same order as sheath energization, and a simple physical explanation is given. We propose a generalized Thornton equation that includes both sheath energization and Ohmic heating of electrons. The s...

Thin films in the Ti-Pt-C system were deposited by non-reactive, DC-magnetron sputtering. Samples were characterised using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. A previously not reported metastable solid solution carbide, (Ti1xPtx)Cy with a Pt/Ti ratio of up to 0.43 was observed. This solid solution phase was present both as single phase in p...

We studied the growth and oxidation of niobium nitride (NbN) films that we used to fabricate superconductive tunnel junctions. The thin films were deposited by dc reactive magnetron sputtering using a mixture of argon and nitrogen. The process parameters were optimized by monitoring the plasma with an optical spectroscopy technique. This technique allowed us to obtain NbN as well as good qualit...

The transition metal nitrides like titanium nitride exhibit very interesting color variation properties depending on the different plasma deposition conditions using cylindrical magnetron sputtering method. It is found in this deposition study that nitrogen partial pressure in the reactive gas discharge environment plays a significant role on the color variation of the film coatings on bell-met...

Magnetron sputtering is a widely used physical vapor deposition technique for deposition and formation of nanocatalyst thin films and clusters. Nevertheless, so far only few studies investigated this formation process at the fundamental level. We here review atomic scale molecular dynamics simulations aimed at elucidating the nanocatalyst growth process through magnetron sputtering. We first in...

Thermochromic coatings based on vanadium dioxide exhibit great potential in various fields, including smart energy-saving windows with temperature-dependent transmittance the infrared at preserved visible. However, these promises come challenges concerning low-temperature preparation of high-quality crystalline VO 2 -based films by industry-friendly techniques and simultaneous optimization all ...