Effect of in-situ substrate biases changes and ex-situ hydrogen loading on in-plane stress in Sm-Fe thin films

Inhalt:
In this study, the in-plane stress in magnetostrictive thin films was evaluated by the changes in ion bombardment parameter Π during the deposition. Despite the control of ion bombardment, the values of in-plane stress for the thin films were not continuous. This suggests that true stress of sputtered magnetostrictive thin films is governed by not only ion bombardment but also microstructural changes with change in substrate bias. In addition, electrochemical hydrogen loading was carried out for the samples at room temperature, and the in-plane stress was evaluated from the curvature at each equilibrium state, applying the Stoney’s equation. The in-plane stress of Sm-Fe thin films shows compressive stress.