Role of the oxygen partial pressure in the formation of composite Co-CoO nanoparticles by reactive aggregation

The magnetic properties of diluted films composed of nanocomposite Co-CoO nanoparticles (of ~8 nm diameter) dispersed in a Cu matrix have been investigated. The nanoparticles were formed in an aggregation chamber by sputtering at different Ar/O₂ partial pressures (0?C0.015). The exchange-bias properties appear to be insensitive to the amount of O₂ during their formation. However, the temperature dependence of the magnetization, M(T), exhibits two different contributions with relative intensities that correlate with the amount of O₂. The magnetic results imply that two types of particles are formed, nanocomposite Co-CoO (determining the exchange-bias) and pure CoO, as confirmed by transmission electron microscopy observations. Importantly, as the O₂ partial pressure during the sputtering is raised the number of nanocomposite Co-CoO nanoparticles (exhibiting exchange-bias properties) is reduced and, consequently, there is an increase in the relative amount of pure, antiferromagnetic CoO particles.