Silicon substrate orientation influence on structural and magnetic properties of BaFe12O19 thin films obtained by RF magneton sputtering

•The correlation between the Si substrate orientation and structural and magnetic anisotropy were investigated.•In-plane oriented BaM thin films can be obtained using silicon substrates.•The uniform needle-shaped grains with in-plane orientation was enhanced for BaM thin films grown onto Si(1 1 1) substrate. In this work, the fabrication of BaFe12O19 (BaM) thin films by radio-frequency sputtering and the influence of substrate orientation on structural, microstructure and magnetic properties were carried out. Measurements pointed out the deposition time and power have no significant effect over stoichiometry in the studied condition, producing films with satisfying Fe:Ba rate confirmed by EDX analysis. The orientation of the Si substrate showed to be essentially correlated with in-plane orientation of BaM phase. Both Si (1 0 0) and (1 1 1) substrates privileged in-plane orientation of the c-axis of BaM and atomic force microscopy found needle-like grains spread randomly onto substrates, although Si (1 1 1) substrate exhibited higher magnetic anisotropy.