Magnetic and structural characteristics of multiferroic Fe3O4/(Bi3.25Nd0.65Eu0.10)Ti3O12 composite thin films deposited by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

Ferromagnetic magnetite (Fe3O4) thin films for magnetoelectric multiferroic applications were deposited on (200) (Bi3.25Nd0.65Eu0.10)Ti3O12 (BNEuT)/(101) Nb:TiO2 substrates by metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using an iron(III) tris(2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedionato) precursor as the iron source. The BNEuT film utilized as a ferroelectric template material was in the form of freestanding nanoplates with narrow spaces between them. The effects of deposition conditions such as the deposition time and substrate temperature on the magnetic and structural characteristics of the Fe3O4/BNEuT composite films were investigated. All the films consisted of mostly single-phase Fe3O4 with a cubic inverse-spinel structure. When deposition was carried out at temperatures of 400-420 °C, the filling rates of particles introduced into the narrow spaces between the BNEuT nanoplates exhibited high values of 76-89% including the amorphous phase. This suggested that the deposition in this temperature range made progress according to the growth mechanism of MOCVD in the surface reaction rate determining state. Room-temperature magnetic moment-magnetic field curves for Fe3O4 thin films deposited at 400-500 °C for 60 min exhibited narrow rectangular hysteresis loops, indicating typical soft magnetic characteristics.