A combinatorial sputtering method to prepare a wide range of A/B artificial superlattice structures on a single substrate

Using a novel combinatorial sputtering system, we have prepared a wide range of Ni/Pt artificial superlattice structures on a single 76 mm x 76 mm wafer. Structures with m (1 1 1)-oriented Ni atomic layers followed by n (1 1 1)-oriented Pt atomic layers in the repeating unit were made, where 0 < m < 8 and 0 < n < 8. The number of Ni and Pt layers, m and n, varied continuously and orthogonally across the wafer, so that all possible combinations of m and n between 0 and 8 were obtained on a single wafer. The films were characterized point by point by X-ray diffraction and electron microprobe analysis. The superlattice structure was extracted using SUPREX software of Fullerton et al. We find well-developed superstructures with little interdiffusion of Ni and Pt for m > 2 and n > 2 in agreement with previous work. We believe that combinatorial artificial layered structures such as this will be useful in elucidating the magnetic properties of A/B superstructures, where the properties vary strongly with the number of atomic layers of A and B in the repeating unit. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.