Absorption Experiments of Ni-Zn Ferrite Thin Films for EMC Applications

F. GRBNERb), G. TEICHERTa), F. BLASCHDAa), CH. KNEDLIKa)

a) Technische Universitt Ilmenau, Institut fr Werkstofftechnik Postfach 10 05 65, 98684 Ilmenau, Germany b) Institut fr Maschinen, Antriebe und elektronische Gertetechnik gGmbH An der Salza 8a, 99734 Nordhausen, Germany Abstract - Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films were deposited on bariumsilicatglass-substrates by dc magnetron sputtering from a (Ni,Zn)Fe2O4target. The structure and texture of the Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films were investigated by x-ray diffractions measurements. To develop the spinel structure a post-deposition heat treatment is required. The Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films are polycrystalline and show a weak texture. The morphology of the thin films was studied by AFM. From the magnetization curves of the Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films a coercive field HC with values in the range of 0.95 to 1.3 kOe were found. The HF losses of multilayer ( 4 layer ) thin films in the frequency range 900 MHz to 3800 MHz was measured with a stripline measurement arrangement connected with a network analyzer. The parameter S11 describes the reflection loss.

I. INTRODUCTION Soft ferrite thin films are promising materials for many applications such as magnetic thin-film read heads [1], microwave acoustic devices [2] and monolithic microwave integradet circuits [3]. The deposition of thin layers of soft ferrites such as Mn-Zn or Ni-Zn ferrite has been studied recently by various groups [2, 4-8]. In this study we investigated the influence of the processing parameters on the structural and magnetic properties of Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering. We will show, that Ni-Zn-ferrite films are also promising materials as HF-absorber for electromagnetic compatibility components. II. EXPERIMENTAL The Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films were deposited with the dc magnetron sputter system LA 440 S (VON ARDENNE ANLAGENTECHNIK GMBH DRESDEN). Typical film deposition conditions are listed in Table I. Table I
Target Substrate Sputtering gas Gas pressure Substrate temperature Sputtering power Sputtering time

The HF-loss behaviour was investigated with a stripline measurment arrangement connected with a network analyzer. The increase the number of layer was taken as a criterion for an rf loss increase. The S-parameter S11 desribe the absorption loss of the NiZn-ferrite thin film ( multilayer of 4 layers ) in the stripline, special S11 the reflection loss. The film thickness was measured by the x-ray fluorescence method and by a thickness laserprofilometer. The film composition was determined by energy dispersive x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy. The surface morphology and grain size of the Ni-Znferrite thin films were studied by atomic force microscopy (AFM). For a stable sputtering process we used a target, which has the form of a disc with a hole (Fig. 1).

Film preparation conditions

Sintered (Ni,Zn)Fe2O4, = 2000 Bariumsilicatglass Ar 8.10-3 mbar 200 C 150 W 200 W 10 min 15 min

Fig. 1

Form of the Ni-Zn-ferrite sinter target

The crystal structure of the thin films was investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD) with Cu-K radiation in grazing incident geometry (GID grazing incident diffraction). The coercivity HC and saturation moment density were determined by means of vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM).

All films were deposited to a thickness of 200 nm to 300 nm with an avarage deposition rate of 0.3 nm/s. To develop the spinel structure the films were annealed at different temperatures in Argon or air.

III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 2 shows the x-ray diffraction pattern of a Ni-Znferrite thin film after deposition. The diffraction pattern shows weak diffraction peaks of the spinel ferrite structure. Therefore the films are nanocrystalline and show many crystal defects.

600

Magnetic properties are determined at room temperature by applying a magnetic field parallel to the surface of the films. Remarkable is the very high coercive field HC of the Ni-Zn-ferrite films in the range 0.95 to 1.3 kOe. This results are reasonable because the effects of the annealing temperature are increasing grain size and improving thin film crystallinity. All these effects contribute to the increase of MS and decrease of in-plane coercivity HC. The high values of in-plane coercivity HC indicate the presence of crystallite shape anisotropy [10]. A first measurement of the anisotropy constant k1 with a torque magnetometer gives a value of -8.10-6 erg/cm. Figure 4 shows the stripline measurements for the absorption experiments.

500

Cps

400

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200 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2-Theta - Scale

Fig. 2 X-ray diffraction pattern after deposition Figure 3 shows the x-ray diffraction pattern of the Ni-Znferrite thin films after a postdeposition heat treatment at 500 C in Ar for 30 min. Similar diffraction pattern were found for a postdeposition heat treatment at 600 C and for a heat treatment in air at the same temperatures. Fig.4 stripline measurements for the absorption experiments ( 40 MHZ- 3800 MHZ )
600

500

The measurement of the absorption loss by means of the S-parameter-method was carried out in the frequency range 40 MHz 3800 MHz. Figure 5 shows the S11parameter.

Cps

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200 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

2-Theta - Scale

Fig. 3 X-ray diffraction pattern after heat treatment The x-ray diffraction patterns show that the Ni,Zn-ferrite films annealed at and above 500 C in Ar or air are polycrystalline with a single phase of the spinel structure. The annealed films show a weak preferred crystallite orientation. . It cant be detected any x-ray diffraction peak from polycrystalline copper for the grazing-incident geometry.

Fig. 5 S11-parameter of Multilayer Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films ( 40 MHZ 3800 MHZ )

The analysis of the S-parameter S11 shows a average reflection loss of 2 to 4 dB. IV. CONCLUSION Spinel multilayer ( 4 layer ) Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films for electro-magnetic- compatibility applications have been successfully deposited on bariumsilicatglass subtrates at relatively low temperatures by means of dc magnetron sputtering. The temperature at the post-deposition heat treatment is a important factor to control the structural and magnetic properties of the sputtered Ni-Zn-ferrite thin films. The authors want to acknowledge the financial support of this study ba the BMBF under contract 03N1048. [1] P. J. van der Zaag, J. M. M. Ruigrok, M. F. Gillies, Philips J. Res. 51 (1998) [2] Y. Suzuki, et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 714 (1996) [3] J. D. Adam, S. V. Krishnaswamy, et al., J. Magn. Magn. Mater. 83, 419 (1990) [4] Z. Qian, G. Wang, J. M. Sivertsen, J. H. Judy, IEEE Trans. on Magnetics 33, 5, 3748 (1997) [5] C M. Williams, D. B. Chrisey, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 75, 1676 (1994) [6] H. Mikami, Y. Nishikawa, et al., Conf. Proc. Int. Conf. Ferrites 7, 126 (1996) [7] K. Tanaka, Y. Omata, et al., IEEE Trans. J. Magn. Jpn. 6, 4801 (1991) [8] F. J. Cadieu, R. Rani, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 81, 4801 (1997) [9] Smithells, Metals Reference Book, Butterworth, 1992, P.4-22 [10] M. M. Amado, M. S. Rogalski, et al., J. Appl. Phys. 83, 6852 (1998)
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