At room temperature, polycrystalline Fe3O4 films with thicknesses ranging from 5 to 1120 nm have been prepared by reactive sputtering. Transmission electron microscopy image shows that uniform Fe3O4 grains are well separated by grain boundaries and their size decreases with the film thickness. The changes of resistivity as a function of temperature reveal a grain boundary dominated electron tunneling transport mechanism. The magnetoresistance MR=ρH-ρo=ρ0 measured at room temperature for the films with thickness larger than 200nm is～7.4% in 46 kOe magnetic field, which is one of the largest value have ever been reported for Fe3O4 films under the same conditions. As the thickness reduced from 80 to 5nm, MR decreases from～6.5% to～1.1% due to magnetization reduction and the enhanced spin-flip scattering at the film surface.

We studied the structure and magnetic properties of as-deposited and subsequent annealed CoxC100-x granular films fabricated by a DC facing-target magnetron sputtering system at room temperature using atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and vibrating sample magnetometer. The average roughness, Ra, of the as-deposited CoxC100-x granular films is smaller than that of Si (100) substrates. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses indicate that the as-deposited CoxC100-x granular films are composed of～2 nm amorphous cobalt grains dispersed in amorphous carbon matrix, and their morphology is composition independent. The high resolution TEM image of the as-deposited Co30C70 film shows that cobalt and carbon have already separated during the deposition, even if the aggregation of cobalt is not complete. Annealing at 300-450℃ causes the crystallization of amorphous cobalt followed by an increase of grain size and the graphitisation of the amorphous carbon matrix. The constrictions arising from the structural environment result in the coexistence of the hcp and fcc Co phases at temperatures higher than the phase transformation point of 425℃. Magnetic measurements reveal that the coercivity of the as-deposited CoxC100-x granular films decreases with the increasing cobalt composition, and increases with the decrease in film thickness. The enhanced coercivity can be attributed to the weakened intergrain interaction due to the increased percolation threshold and/or the destruction of long-range domain structures caused by the film thickness reduction.

Amorphous CoMoN/CN compound soft-X-ray multilayers were fabricated by dual-facing-target sputtering. Their structural thermal stability has been investigated by monitoring the structural evolutions of CN and CoMoN sublayers at annealing temperatures up to 800 degreesC using complementary measurement techniques, and measuring the coefficient of interfacial diffusion at annealing temperatures below 300 degreesC. The period expansion at annealing temperatures below 600 degreesC, which is usually observed in annealed metal/carbon soft-X-ray multilayers, is only 5%. The enhanced sp(2) to sp(3) bond ratio caused by the "incorporation annealing effect" of nitrogen [1] is thought to be responsible for the improved thermal stability of CN sublayers. Mo addition greatly suppresses the structural thermal evolution of CoMoN sublayers. XPS and TEM analyses indicate that the strong chemical bonding between N and Co atoms and Mo nitride aggregation in the grain boundary of cobalt are the main mechanisms for the high thermal stability of CoMoN sublayers. The layered structure of the CoMoN/CN multilayers still exists at the annealing temperature of 800 degreesC, while Co/C and CoN/CN multilayers have already been destroyed at this temperature. Compared with Co/C and CoN/CN multilayers, the smaller negative interdiffusivity measured by X-ray diffraction reveals the stable interfaces of CoMoN/CN multilayers. These results illustrate that refractory metal incorporation and strong chemical bond establishment are quite effective in obtaining thermally highly stable compound soft-X-ray optical multilayers.

The thermal stability of CoMoN/CN compound soft X-ray multilayers has been investigated by monitoring the structural evolutions of CoMoN and CN sublayers at annealing temperatures up to 800℃, and the interfacial diffusion at annealing temperature below 300℃. It is shown that the thermal stability of CoN/CN multilayers can be improved significantly by enhancing the incorporation of nitrogen in CoN sublayers through doping with Mo. Both thermodynamic calculations and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses give the information on the charge transfer from the valence band of Mo to the unfilled valence band of Co and a remarkable chemical shift of N atoms. The strong chemical bonding between N and Co atoms and Mo nitrides aggregation in the grain boundary of cobalt are thought to be the main mechanisms for the high thermal stability of CoMoN sublayers. The period expansion at annealing temperatures below 600℃, which is mainly from the density reduction of CN sublayers, was suppressed effectively by improving the incorporation of nitrogen in CN sublayers. The small negative interdiffusivity measured by X-ray diffraction reveals stable interfaces of CoMoN/CN multilayers. These results illustrate that refractory metal incorporation and strong chemical bond establishment are quite effective in obtaining high thermally stable CoMoN/CN compound soft X-ray optical multilayers.

We have investigated anomalous RF sputtering in a high magnetic field, and the effects of high magnetic fields on the microstructures and magnetic properties of Fe-Si-O films. Using a specially designed sputtering apparatus whose chamber can be set in a 6 T liquid helium-free superconducting magnet, Fe-Si-O films were successfully deposited in Ar+O2 mixture. Three typical sample appearances, hole-at-center, phase-separation and hybridization were obtained for the Fe-Si-O films prepared in the low oxygen-argon flow ratio (<1.0%), low magnetic field (<1.0 T) regime, indicating that the distribution of plasma is strongly influenced by a magnetic field, resulting in an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of sputtered atoms. In the high oxygen-argon flow ratio (>2.0%), high magnetic field (>2.0 T) regime, strong (110) orientation of Fe3O4 grains and larger remanence and coercivity measured in the direction normal to the film plane appeared in the Fe-Si-O films, indicating that the high magnetic fields not only orient the Fe-Si-O film but also induce remarkable perpendicular magnetic anisotropy during the deposition.