Ferroelectric Properties of (La, Mn)-codoped BiFeO3 Thin Films Prepared by a Chemical Solution Deposition

Multiferroic (La, Mn)-codoped BiFeO$_{3}$ thin films were deposited on Pt(200)/TiO$_{2}$/SiO$_{2}$/Si(100) substrates by a chemical solution deposition method. The coated films were annealed at 550 $^{\circ}$C for 30 min under nitrogen atmosphere. It was found that the (La, Mn)-codoped BiFeO$_{3}$ thin films exhibited good ferroelectric properties, such as improved leakage current density and \textsl{P-E} hysteresis characteristics. The leakage current density of 6.0 $\times$ 10$^{-6}$ A/cm$^{2}$ for the 7.5-mol\% La- and 1.5-mol\% Mn-codoped BiFeO$_{3}$ thin film is about seven orders of magnitude lower than that of BiFeO$_{3}$ thin film at an external electric field of 100 kV/cm. It also exhibited a well-saturated hysteresis loop with a remanent polarization (\textsl{$P_{r}$}) of 53 $\mu$C/cm$^{2}$ at room temperature. The improved leakage current and ferroelectric properties in the (La, Mn)-codoped BiFeO$_{3}$ thin film can be attributed to the La and Mn doping, that may be responsible for a reduction in oxygen vacancies. KCI Citation Count: 7