Microstructures of thin sputtered amorphous Tb(.26) Fe(.74) and polycrystalline Fe films.
01 January 1986
A transmission electron microscope was used to characterize the microstructure of Te(.26)Fe(.74) and Fe films obtained by magnetron and dc diode sputtering techniques. The films obtained by magnetron sputtering were very smooth, whereas those by diode sputtering were not smooth but island-like, similar to the columnar structure. The microstructures were further examined by varying the pressure of argon gas. In both sputtering systems, an increase in the pressure prompts a tendency of the columnar structure to form.