JPH0199203A - Soft magnetic laminated layer film - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform highly saturated magnetic flux density, low coercive force and high permeability by laminating iron containing small amount of additive element and metal having nonbody-centered cubic (nonbcc) structure. CONSTITUTION:A magnetic metal layer 2 containing as a main ingredient iron including 0.1-5 atomic % (0.1-15 atomic %, in case of C) of at least one of N, O and C, and a nonmagnetic metal layer 1 having a nonbcc structure are laminated. In order to reduce the coercive force of the iron, elements, such as Si, Al, Ta, B, Mg, Ca, etc., for generating stable nitride, oxide, carbide are added to the material of the layer 2 in a range of 0-7.5 atomic %. Thus, highly saturated magnetic flux density, low coercive force and high permeability are performed.

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Industrial Application Field] The present invention relates to a soft magnetic laminated film, and in particular to a soft magnetic laminated film used as a material for magnetic heads etc. that exhibit performance suitable for high-density recording. It also concerns membranes.

[Summary of the invention]

The present invention provides a soft magnetic laminated film used as a material for magnetic heads and the like, in which at least one of N, O, and C is added to 0.00%.
By laminating a magnetic metal layer mainly composed of iron containing 1 to 5 at% (0.1 to 15 at% in the case of C) and a nonmagnetic metal layer having a non-body-centered cubic structure, high saturation can be achieved. The present invention aims to provide a soft magnetic laminated film that satisfies magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high magnetic permeability.

[Prior Art] Hitherto, in the audio and visual fields, there has been a demand for higher density and higher quality recording signals.

In order to satisfy this requirement, for example, ferromagnetic metal powder such as iron is used as magnetic powder. A so-called metal tape or a ferromagnetic metal material was directly deposited on the base film using vacuum thin film formation technology. Magnetic recording media having high coercive force, such as so-called vapor-deposited tapes, have been put into practical use.

By the way, in order to perform good recording and reproducing by fully utilizing the characteristics of a magnetic recording medium having a high coercive force as described above, the characteristics of the core material of the magnetic head of a recording and reproducing device are as follows.
It is necessary to have high saturation magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high magnetic permeability.

However, conventionally used magnetic head materials include permalloy and ferrite, but these magnetic head materials do not have very high magnetic flux density, so
Recording and reproduction of magnetic recording media having high coercive force could not be performed satisfactorily.

Therefore, as soft magnetic materials with even higher soft magnetic properties such as saturation magnetic flux density, for example, Fe/Cu laminated materials (IEICE technical research report 86-24: Hitachi Research Institute, Hitachi, Ltd.) and Fe-3i are available. /Amorphous alloy or F
e-3i-Aj! Laminated material (Tokuko Sho 62-1.7
No. 0008) has been proposed.

In addition, iron-based materials containing a small amount of gas, such as iron nitride, are promising as materials that can achieve high saturation magnetic flux density, and laminated films made by laminating this and ceramics have high saturation magnetic flux density and high coercive force. has attracted attention as an excellent soft magnetic laminated film with heat resistance [a problem to be solved by the invention].However, the above-mentioned Fe/Cu laminated film and Fe-3
i/amorphous alloy or Fe-3i-Aj! The laminated film is
It cannot satisfy all of the requirements of high saturation magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high magnetic permeability, and cannot be said to be sufficient as a material that satisfies desired recording and reproducing characteristics.

In addition, a soft magnetic material consisting of a laminated film of an iron-based material containing a small amount of gas and ceramics is laminated with ceramics as an intermediate layer during pattern formation by etching performed when manufacturing a magnetic head. Therefore, it lacks etching properties and is not practical.

Therefore, the present invention was proposed to solve the above-mentioned problems, and provides a soft magnetic laminated film that simultaneously satisfies high saturation magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high magnetic permeability, and has excellent processability. The purpose is to provide

[Means for solving problems]

The soft magnetic laminated film according to the present invention has been proposed to achieve the above-mentioned object, and contains at least one of N, O, and C.
It has a magnetic metal layer mainly composed of iron containing 0.1 to 5 atomic % of seeds (0.1 to 15 atomic % in the case of C) and a non-body-centered cubic structure (hereinafter referred to as non-BCC structure). It is characterized by laminating a non-magnetic metal layer.

Note that the above-mentioned composition range is set from the viewpoint of soft magnetic properties, and outside this composition range, the soft magnetic properties deteriorate.

N and O added to iron constituting the magnetic metal layer.

At least one type of C is added to reduce the coercive force of iron. In addition, in order to further reduce the coercive force of iron, Si, 8L,
Ta, B, Mg, Ca, Sr, Ba.

Mn, Zr, Nb, Ti, Mo, V, W, Hf.

Stable nitrides such as Ga, Ga, Or, Co, Ni,
Elements that generate oxides and carbides may be added as materials constituting the soft magnetic laminated film.

It is necessary that the crystal of the non-magnetic metal layer laminated with the above-mentioned iron-based magnetic metal layer has a non-BCC structure. Note that the above-mentioned non-BCC structure is a face-centered cubic structure (FCC structure).

It shows a hexagonal close-packed structure (hcp structure), amorphous, etc. Non-magnetic metal layer laminated with magnetic metal layer
The reason why the C structure was adopted was that since the iron crystals laminated as the magnetic metal layer have a BCC structure, this prevents their interfaces from mixing when the two are laminated. It is considered that a good interface can be maintained by laminating BCC and BCC.

As mentioned above, the layer thickness when laminating the magnetic metal layer made of iron and the non-magnetic metal layer with a non-BCC structure is 50 to 1 μm.
and between 3 and 500 people.

The reason for increasing the layer thickness on the magnetic metal layer side in this way is to achieve a high saturation magnetic flux density.In other words, since the saturation density is controlled by the volume occupied by the magnetic metal layer, the saturation magnetic flux The thickness of the magnetic metal layer, which affects density, is increased.

The non-magnetic metal layer material of the non-bcc structure includes Cu,
Examples include Ag, Zn, Pd, Au, Pt, Rh, and Ir.

In order to fabricate these soft magnetic thin films, sputtering is usually performed, and various methods such as high frequency magnetron sputtering, direct current sputtering, facing target sputtering, and ion beam sputtering can be applied, and under normal conditions. It can be carried out. In addition,
When adding N, O, and C to iron, N and O can be introduced into the iron by performing a sputtering operation in a nitrogen gas atmosphere and an oxygen gas atmosphere, respectively, and C can be introduced into the iron by performing a sputtering operation in a methane gas atmosphere. can do.

In addition, when adding the above-mentioned coercive force reducing element, use an alloy of the added element and iron as a target, or
Alternatively, sputtering may be performed by placing a chip of the element to be added on an iron target.

[Effect]

Iron containing trace amounts of at least one of N, O, and C
By laminating metals having a cc structure, it is possible to achieve high saturation magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high magnetic permeability.

In addition, iron containing trace amounts of additive elements and non-BC laminated
Since it is laminated with a c-structure metal, excellent magnetic properties can be obtained without mixing at the interface between the two.

Furthermore, the soft magnetic laminated film of the present invention does not use a heat-resistant material such as ceramic, so although it has poor heat resistance, it has excellent etching properties and is therefore excellent in processability.

〔Example〕

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

This example is an example of a soft magnetic laminated film made by laminating an alloy in which aluminum is used as an additive element in iron and nitrided with nitrogen gas, and copper is used as a metal with a non-bee structure. .

First, a copper target, Fe, Al, and alloy targets were prepared. Argon with a nitrogen concentration of 2.5 mol% +
In a sputtering gas atmosphere consisting of nitrogen gas, the gas pressure is 3.
High-frequency magnetron sputtering was performed under sputtering conditions of mTorr and output of 300 W, and as shown in Figure 1, a non-magnetic metal layer (1) (copper film in this example) having a non-BCC structure and a magnetic material mainly composed of iron were formed. Metal layer (2) [in this example, aluminum-containing iron nitride film: F eqb, sA
lzN+, sc value is atomic %)] was produced. The thickness of the copper film is 8, and the thickness of the aluminum-containing iron nitride film is 100, and the total thickness of the laminated film is 1.
It is 1 μm.

Here, the conditions of high frequency magnetron sputtering adopted in this example are not limited to the above-mentioned conditions, and for example, the nitrogen content is in the range of 0.1 to 5% by weight, and the gas pressure is in the range of 1.0 to 5%. These conditions may be varied within a range of 5 mTorr, but since these conditions affect the composition of the obtained iron nitride, they may be appropriately selected depending on the desired soft magnetic properties.

In addition, the sputtering method is also based on the high frequency magnetron mentioned above.
It is not limited to sputtering. For example, DC sputtering, facing target sputtering,
Ion beam sputtering or the like can also be used, and is also carried out in a nitrogen-argon atmosphere with a nitrogen content of 0.1 to 5 at.%. For example, the gas pressure at this time is 1.0 to 5 mTorr in the case of DC sputtering;
0.2 to 5 m for facing target sputtering
0.1 for Torrs ion beam sputtering
~1.0 mTorr.

Large implementation group 1 This example is an example of a soft magnetic laminated film made by laminating an alloy in which aluminum is used as an additive element in iron and nitrided with nitrogen gas, and silver is used as a metal with a non-BCC structure. be.

First, a silver target and a FeqsA52 alloy target were prepared. This was carried out at a gas pressure of 3 m in a sputtering gas atmosphere consisting of argon + nitrogen gas with a nitrogen concentration of 2.5 mol%.
High-frequency magnetron sputtering was performed under sputtering conditions with a Torrb output of 300 W, and a silver film and an aluminum-containing iron nitride film (Fewi, 5A1x N+, s (numerical value A soft magnetic laminated film consisting of
The thickness of the silver film was 8, and the thickness of the aluminum-containing iron nitride film was 100, and the total thickness of the laminated film was 1.1 μm.

Large ship base 1 This example uses iron nitrided with nitrogen gas and non-BCC
This is an example of a soft magnetic laminated film in which copper is laminated as a structural metal.

This example is an example of a soft magnetic laminated film in which nitrogen is used as an additive element in iron and copper is used as a laminated non-BCC structure metal.

First, the copper target and Fs target were adjusted. In a sputtering gas atmosphere consisting of argon + nitrogen gas with a nitrogen concentration of 2.5 mol%, high-frequency magnetron spanking was performed under sputtering conditions of a gas pressure of 3 m Torr and an output of 300 W, resulting in a soft magnetic lamination as shown in Figure 1. It has a laminated structure similar to the CF film, with a copper film and an aluminum-containing iron nitride film.
eq. , , N, (values are in atomic %)] was fabricated.

The thickness of the copper film was 8, and the thickness of the iron nitride film was 100.
The total thickness of the human laminated film is 1.1 μm.

The above comparative example is an example of a soft magnetic thin film made of an alloy in which aluminum is used as an additive element in iron and is nitrided with nitrogen gas.

First, a FeQ8Aβ2 alloy target was prepared.

This was carried out in a sputtering gas atmosphere consisting of argon + nitrogen gas with a nitrogen concentration of 2.5 mol%, at a gas pressure of 3 mTorr,
High frequency magnetron under sputtering conditions with an output of 300W.
Sputtering is performed to form an aluminum-containing iron nitride film (F
eqh, 5A1z N+, s (values are atomic %)]
A sample soft magnetic thin film was prepared. The thickness of the aluminum-containing iron nitride film is 100, and the total thickness of the laminated film is 1.
It is μm.

Each sample soft magnetic laminated film produced as described above was
After annealing at ℃ for 1 hour, coercive force and saturation magnetic flux density were measured. The results are shown in Table 1.

As is clear from Table 1, the iron containing additive elements shown in Examples was able to achieve a low coercive force. Furthermore, by adding a predetermined additive metal to iron to form an alloy, the coercive force was further reduced, resulting in a very good coercive force. On the other hand, although the soft magnetic laminated film shown in the comparative example had a high saturation magnetic flux density, it had a high coercive force and could not obtain the desired soft magnetic properties.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As is clear from the above explanation, the soft magnetic laminated film of the present invention has high saturation magnetic flux density, low coercive force, and high permeability because iron containing a small amount of additive elements and metal with a non-BCC structure are laminated. Magnetic properties can be achieved.

In addition, since no material such as ceramic is laminated, the soft magnetic laminated film is inferior in heat resistance but has very good etching properties and excellent workability.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged sectional view of essential parts showing an example of the structure of a soft magnetic laminated film to which the present invention is applied. 1...Non-magnetic metal layer having a non-bee structure 2...Magnetic metal layer mainly composed of iron Patent applicant Sony Corporation representative Patent attorney Kodo Koba Kuri Yamamura Masaru SaH

Claims (1)

[Claims] A magnetic metal layer mainly composed of iron containing at least one of N, O, and C at 0.1 to 5 atomic % (0.1 to 15 atomic % in the case of C) and a non-body-centered cubic structure. A soft magnetic laminated film characterized by laminating a magnetic metal layer.