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2007
Conference Paper
Titel
High rate deposition of soft magnetic thick films by gas flow sputtering
Abstract
For different applications like thin film sensors or microactuators soft and hard magnetic films are required to create and guide the magnetic flux. In many cases the required thickness of the coatings is well above 10 microns. For the preparation various techniques are used. For high rate deposition electroplating of soft magnetic films is widely used. In this paper we will present a new approach for high rate deposition carried out in coarse vacuum. Gas flow sputtering obtains a high potential as an environmentally friendly economic alternative for high rate preparation of soft magnetic coatings. Especially for flux guidance the permeability of the films is essential. Since the permeability decreases with increasing film thickness a demand for thick films with high permeability arises. Focus in this work was the increase of the relative permeability of thick soft magnetic films. The soft magnetic material NiFe (81/19) was investigated. After optimization of the deposition parameters growth rates exceeding 50 microns per hour were realized. Especially the influence of the preparation conditions as applied bias voltage and additional magnetic filed behind the sample on the resulting permeability was studied. The permeability µr was also tailored to higher values. Actual results showed µr values of 100 for a 50 micron thick coating.