Microstructure and orientation of iron crystals by thermal chemical vapor deposition with imposition of magnetic field

Abstract

Iron crystals were deposited by thermally activated chemical vapor deposition with imposition of magnetic field. In this study, the deposition was conducted by imposing a magnetic field up to 3.5 T in a temperature range between 0.48 and 0.51 of TmFe (melting point of iron), which is below the Curie point of iron (0.58 TmFe). The microstructures and crystal orientations of the deposits were investigated. In the deposition process, island-shaped crystals were formed on a scale of several microns; then a film was grown by their coalescence. As the magnetic field magnitude increased, population of the island-shaped crystals having a cubic shape increased. Simultaneously, their ω-scanned (200) profile became sharper. Their degree of (100) preferred orientation was dependent on the magnetic field up to 3.5 T, which is usually high enough for the saturated magnetization of iron crystals. However, when the substrate was placed parallel to the magnetic field, (100) preferred orientation was not observed for the island-shaped crystals. A large and bimodal ω-scanned (110) profile having sharp peaks was obtained when the substrate was inclined 45° to the field. Preferred (100) orientation was not obtained from the iron films, for which two reasons were pointed out. The first is the secondary grown crystals on the island-shaped crystals having different orientations, and the second is the observed zone III grain structure of the films, where grain boundary migration occurred.