Evolutions of magnetic and structural properties of FeAlN thin films via N doping

The effects of N doping on the magnetic and structural properties of a series of 100 nm FeAlN films sputtered in the presence of N/sub 2/ partial pressures were investigated. Increasing N doping increased film resistivity but decreased M/sub s/. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectra of the short-range atomic order in the Fe(Al) lattices directly indicated that the N went into octahedral sites of bcc Fe and fcc Fe in /spl alpha/-Fe and /spl gamma/'-Fe/sub 4/N phases, respectively, and triggered the order-disorder phase transition observed in X-ray /spl theta/-2/spl theta/ diffraction spectra. Mild N doping decreased the grain size and reduced H/sub c/. It also increased the local atomic disorder, which coincided with the maximal value of K/sub u/ and the in-plane anisotropic behaviors of as-deposited films.