Microstructure of magnetron co-sputtered CoCr thin films

Abstract

Magnetic CoCr films deposited on fused quartz substrates were prepared by the dual‐gun magnetron co‐sputtering technique. The cross‐section transmission electron microscopy studies showed the establishment of a textured columnar structure of the hcp CoCr films. Furthermore, the columnar grains were found to nucleate at the surface of the substrates and grow with the c axis parallel to the film‐normal direction. No initial layer of randomly oriented small equiaxed grains was observed.