Fabrication of ferromagnetic Fe₃Si thin films by pulsed laser deposition using an Fe₃Si target

Ferromagnetic Fe₃Si thin films were fabricated on Si and quartz substrates by pulsed laser deposition. It was found that the polycrystalline Fe₃Si thin films were grown at the substrate temperature of 300°C, and this is a candidate for the ferromagnetic layer of the multi-layered GMR film. At room temperature, the ferromagnetic amorphous Fe ₃Si thin film were grown and it is also extremely expectative as a ferromagnetic layer due to its nearly the same resistivity as that of semiconducting amorphous FeSi₂. At substrate temperatures higher than 400°C, the FeSi crystallites were co-generated with Fe₃Si crystallites on the Si substrate probably due to the diffusion of the Si atoms from the substrate into the film.