High coercivity SmFeAlC thin films fabricated by multilayer sputtering

SmFeSiC thin films have been obtained by sputtering SmFe/C(Si) multilayers with a Ta underlayer on Si substrates and subsequently annealing at 700/spl deg/C. The coercivity of the SmFeSiC films strongly depends on the sputtering and annealing conditions. The influence of the thickness of the Ta underlayer, the thickness ratio of SmFe to C(Si), the argon pressure and heat treatment were studied. In-plane coercivities up to 7.2 kOe and squareness of 0.94 were obtained.