Multiferroic properties of (Bi, Ca)FeO3 films on glass substrates

•A pure perovskite phase is present for BCFO films on refined Pt(111) electrodes.•Pt(111) underlayer induces BCFO films with fine microstructure and flat surface.•BCFO polycrystalline films exhibit desired multiferroic properties.•Different from BCFO ceramics, BCFO films exhibit good ferroelectric properties.•BCFO films are a highly potential multiferroic material for advanced applications. Effect of Ca substitution on the multiferroic properties of non-epitaxially grown polycrystalline Bi1−xCaxFeO3 (BCFO) films on refined Pt(111) electrode buffered glass substrates is studied. The structural analysis shows that a pure perovskite phase with isotropic orientation is present for BCFO films (x=0.05–0.15). The grain size and surface roughness are reduced with increasing x. Different from the BCFO ceramics, good ferroelectric properties with the remanent polarization (2Pr) of 91–124μC/cm2 and electrical coercive field (Ec) of 294–394kV/cm are obtained in BCFO polycrystalline thin films. Furthermore, the substitution of Ca2+ for Bi3+ effectively enhance the ferromagnetic properties with magnetization (Ms) of 5.9–8.2emu/cm3 and coercivity (Hc) of 1224–1258Oe. The ferromagnetic and ferroelectric properties and leakage behavior as functions of Ca content x are discussed.