Preparation and Properties of Ferromagnetic Antiperovskite Co3FeN Thin Films

Thin films of Co
₃
FeN with an antiperovskite structure were epitaxially grown on (La
_0.18
Sr
_0.82
)(Al
_0.59
Ta
_0.41
)O
₃
(001) substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering. The influence of the N
₂
volume concentration in the sputtering gas mixture on the structure and properties of Co
₃
FeN thin films was systematically investigated. The optimized Co
₃
FeN thin films exhibited a saturation magnetization,
\(M_{s}\)
, of 1350 emu/cc, which is comparable with the theoretical value. A negative anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) effect with an AMR ratio of up to −0.88% was observed at 4.2 K.