Sputter deposition of EuO thin films

High-quality EuO films with properties similar to bulk EuO have been deposited by sputtering a polycrystalline EuO target in an ultrahigh-vacuum sputtering system. In addition, Eu-rich EuO films with enhanced ferromagnetic properties have been sputter deposited, but with considerable difficulty. The difficulty is caused by oxidizing impurities present in the vacuum system and is sufficiently severe as to indicate that multiple-source vaporization is a more suitable technique for fabricating Eu-rich EuO films with the enhanced ferromagnetic properties required for beam-addressable file applications.