Combinatorial Synthesis of Novel Permanent Magnets

This SBIR Phase I project is directed toward the development of a new technology for discovery of new high-energy permanent magnetic that will have potential military and civilian applications. Discovery of new materials with the ming and rather unpredictable trial-and-error process. This proposal describes a unique way of synthesizing and testing new permanent magnetic materials. A combinatorial approach utilizing thin film deposition techniques and a recently developed scanning superconducting quantum interface device (SQUID) microscope will be used to quickly prepare and screen thin film combinatorial libraries. A 256-member combinatorial library of RxMyQy (R = rare-earth, M = 3d transition metals, and Q = B, N), will be generated by combining sequential dc sputtering deposition of thin films with a series of 4 physical shadow masks. The resulting libraries will be magnetized and screened for remanent magnetization by using the scanning SQUID microscope. This powerful microscope will allow us to screen large libraries of compounds fairly quickly to identify potential candidates for further development. The goal of Phase I is to demonstrate the feasibility of our combinatorial approach for synthesis and identification of hard magnetic materials.