Investigation on the origin of the magnetic moment of BiFeO3 thin films by advanced x-ray characterizations
Citation:
Bea, Helene; Bibes, Manuel; Fusil, Stephane; et al., Investigation on the origin of the magnetic moment of BiFeO3 thin films by advanced x-ray characterizations, Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, 74, 2, 2006, 020101-Download Item:
Abstract:
Single phase
001
-oriented BiFeO
3
BFO
thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition can only be obtained
in a narrow window of deposition pressure and temperature and have a low magnetic moment. Out of the
stability window Fe- or Bi-rich impurity phases form, which has a strong impact on the physical and structural
properties of the films, even for impurity concentrations hardly detectable by standard x-ray diffraction mea-
surements. By using more sensitive tools such as x-ray absorption spectroscopy and x-ray magnetic circular
dichroism and performing advanced x-ray diffraction characterization, we show that in nonoptimal conditions
Fe forms ferrimagnetic
-Fe
2
O
3
precipitates that are responsible for virtually all the ferromagnetic signal
measured on such BFO films by standard magnetometry. This confirms that the BFO phase has a very low
intrinsic moment that does not depend on strain. We also study the influence of film thickness on the nucleation
of parasitic phases and find that epitaxial strain can stabilize the pure BFO phase in slightly overoxidizing
growth conditions
Author's Homepage:
http://people.tcd.ie/rodekDescription:
PUBLISHED
Author: RODE, KARSTEN
Type of material:
Journal ArticleCollections
Series/Report no:
Physical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics74
2
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
pulsed laserDOI:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.74.020101Metadata
Show full item recordLicences: