We report the reactive magnetron sputter deposition of a metastable antiferromagnetic oxide, (Ni81Fe19)O or permalloy monoxide (PyO), suitable for exchange biasing permalloy (Ni81Fe19 or Py) film layers at room temperature or for manipulating metallic Py film coercivities. Examples are presented demonstrating how PyO can be incorporated in Py/Cu/Py-based exchange biased spin valves (SV) or nonexchange biased pseudo-spin valves (PSV) using the same metallic Py target for fabricating both the PyO pinning layer and the Py metallic layers. The presence of a Ti seed layer beneath the PSV or SV film structures and the oxidized silicon substrate is shown to have an insignificant effect on the film magnetic properties, demonstrating the feasible use of Ti as an adhesion or diffusion barrier layer in hybridized microelectronic devices based on silicon. Glancing incidence parallel beam x-ray diffraction data are presented supporting the existence of the antiferromagnetic monoxide rocksalt phase for the PyO. In addition, vibrating sample magnetometry and four point probe magnetoresistance analysis data are presented for the SV and PSV films.

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A systematic study is reported on the effects of nano-diamond seeding density on the growth, quality, and morphology of diamond films. A process is described to examine nano-diamond seeding densities 4 × 108, 8 × 1010, and 2 × 1012 cm−2 on silicon wafers. The diamond film is grown using hot-filament chemical vapor deposition with CH4/H2/O2 feed gases and varying growth time to determine properties at coalescence and as thickness increases. Polycrystalline morphology is examined by scanning electron and atomic force microscopy. Both vertical and lateral growth rates are found to be higher for sparse seeding prior to coalescence. Following coalescence, the growth rate is similar for all densities. The development of polycrystals is found to be influenced by the initial growth with smaller mean lateral size at higher seeding density and reduced surface roughness that also improves with thickness to reach ≲90 nm at a thickness of 6.4 μm. The crystal quality is examined by micro-Raman spectroscopy from the sample surfaces and line images from cross sections. Narrowing of the diamond phonon peak shows material quality to improve with the thickness, at a given seed density, and as density increases. Concomitant improvements are seen from the relative intensity of the diamond phonon and Raman bands from non-diamond carbon. Cross-section micro-Raman results suggest improved diamond film quality and crystallinity near the substrate interface as well as at the growth surface for the film grown with 2 × 1012 cm−2 seed density compared to 4 × 108 and 8 × 1010 cm−2. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirms these trends at the diamond surface.

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CogoFeio(2.5 nm)/Cu(2 nm, 3 nm, or SiQ2, and annealed for 30 minutes at 4OOOC in 7 4 nm) multilayers (MLs) were DC magnetron-mTon of flowing UHP Ar(94%)/H2(4%) in the constituent during CoFe layer growth. A reduction in