Manipulation of crystal orientation and microstructure of barium ferrite thin film

Pt, Pd, and Pt–Pd alloy underlayers were used to deposit c-axis oriented barium ferrite (BaM) thin films by a facing target sputtering system. All of the BaM thin films grown on these three underlayers show c-axis orientation normal to the film plane. But the grain size of BaM layer is strongly manipulated by the underlayer grain size. It is found that Pt–Pd alloy underlayer is effective to achieve c-axis oriented barium ferrite films with small grain size.