Influence of the substrate on structure and magnetic properties of Co–N thin films

Abstract Cubic cobalt nitride films were grown onto different single crystalline substrates Al 2 O 3 (0 0 0 1) and (1 1  2 ¯  0), MgO (1 0 0) and (1 1 0) and TiO 2 (1 0 0) and (1 1 0). The films display low atomic densities compared with the bulk material, are ferromagnetic and have metallic electrical conductivity. X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption fine structure confirm the cubic structure of the films and with RBS results indicate that samples are not homogeneous at the microscopic scale, coexisting Co 4+ x N nitride with nitrogen rich regions. The magnetization of the films decreases with increase of the nitrogen content, variation that is shown to be due to the decrease of the cobalt density, and not to a decrease of the magnetic moment per cobalt ion. The films are crystalline with a nitrogen deficient stoichiometry and epitaxial with orientation determined by the substrate.