Effect of annealing temperature on magnetic property of Si1−xCrx thin films

Polycrystalline Si 1 − x Cr x thin films have been prepared by magnetron sputtering followed by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for crystallization. RTA was performed at 800 °C for 5 min, 1200 °C for 30 s and 1200 °C for 2 min, in a N 2 flow. The magnetic hysteresis loops were observed at room temperature in all the samples except for RTA at 800 °C for 5 min, and the annealing caused the decrease of saturation magnetization relative to the as-grown film. X-ray diffraction spectra and Raman spectra showed that the annealing process lead the deposited amorphous film to be crystallized and CrSi 2 phase formed. The magnetism of the films was determined by the competition between crystallinity and precipitation of diamagnetic CrSi 2 phase.