Gold embedding influence on the magnetic behaviour of iron in Fe/Si3N4 multilayers prepared by sputtering

Au/Fe/Au/Si3N4 multilayers have been prepared in order to improve ferromagnetism in Fe/Si3N4 system. A huge enhancement of magnetization is observed when the iron layers are embedded into gold ones, showing saturation magnetization values near the bulk ones. In this paper, a careful microstructural study has been carried out to explain the observed magnetic behaviour of this ferromagnetic system prepared in the transparent silicon nitride matrix.