Magnetic, electrical properties and structure of Cr-AIN and Mn-AIN thin films grown on Si substrates

The structure, magnetic properties and electrical properties of Al/sub 0.93/Cr/sub 0.07/N and Al/sub 0.91/Mn/sub 0.09/N thin films grown by reactive dc magnetron sputtering on the thermal oxidized Si (100) substrate have been studied in detail. High-angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy are used to determine the crystallographic nature of the specimen. XRD profiles reveal that the crystal orientation of the film plane is mainly parallel to (0002) planes. Magnetization measurements reveal that room temperature ferromagnetism is not observed in each specimen. Also, the magnetic state at 10 K changes from a paramagnetic state to a superparamagnetic state with decreasing temperature. Electrical resistivity is enhanced exponentially as temperature decreases.