Magnetic Phase Formation in Self-Assembled Epitaxial BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgO and BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgAl[subscript 2]O[subscript 4] Nanocomposite Films Grown by Combinatorial Pulsed Laser Deposition

Self-assembled epitaxial BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgO and BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgAl[subscript 2]O[subscript 4] nanocomposite thin films were grown on SrTiO[subscript 3] substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A two-phase columnar structure was observed for BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgO codeposition within a small w...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kim, Dong Hun, Kim, Tae Cheol, Eun, Yun Jae, Lee, Taeho, Jeong, Sung Gyun, Ross, Caroline A., Sun, Xueyin
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Format: Article
Language:en_US
Published: American Chemical Society (ACS) 2016
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102191
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2262-1249
Description
Summary:Self-assembled epitaxial BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgO and BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgAl[subscript 2]O[subscript 4] nanocomposite thin films were grown on SrTiO[subscript 3] substrates by pulsed laser deposition. A two-phase columnar structure was observed for BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgO codeposition within a small window of growth parameters, in which the pillars consisted of a magnetic spinel phase (Mg,Fe)[subscript 3]O[subscript 4] within a BiFeO[subscript 3] matrix, similar to the growth of BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgFe[subscript 2]O[subscript 4] nanocomposites reported elsewhere. Further, growth of a nanocomposite with BiFeO[subscript 3]–(CoFe[subscript 2]O[subscript 4]/MgO/MgFe[subscript 2]O[subscript 4]), in which the minority phase was grown from three different targets, gave spinel pillars with a uniform (Mg,Fe,Co)[subscript 3]O[subscript 4] composition due to interdiffusion during growth, with a bifurcated shape from the merger of neighboring pillars. BiFeO[subscript 3]–MgAl[subscript 2]O[subscript 4] did not form a well-defined vertical nanocomposite in spite of having lower lattice mismatch, but instead formed a two-phase film with in which the spinel phase contained Fe. These results illustrate the redistribution of Fe between the oxide phases during oxide codeposition to form a ferrimagnetic phase from antiferromagnetic or nonmagnetic targets.