Reactive sputtering of iron in Ar-N2 and Ar-O2 mixtures

This paper reports on the preparation of iron nitride and iron oxide films by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The reactivity of the Fe-N2 and Fe-O2 systems is compared by the measurement of the total pressure in the deposition chamber, the iron target voltage and the films' growth rate as a function of the reactive gas flow rate. The Fe-N2 system does not exhibit an instability phenomenon and the total pressure is quite proportional to the nitrogen flow rate. This system exhibits a low reactivity as confirmed by the effect of the nitrogen flow rate on the films' growth rate. On the other hand, a hysteresis loop occurs for the Fe-O2 system, indicating a higher reactivity for this last system.