NiCuZn ferrite thin films grown by a sol–gel method and rapid thermal annealing

Ni 0.8− x Cu 0.2Zn x Fe 2O 4 thin films were fabricated by sol–gel method and rapid thermal annealing (RTA). The X-diffraction and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements indicate that the films have a single-phase spinel structure with calcining temperature T⩾600 °C. The saturation magnetization M s and coercivity H c of the films as a function of the film composition were investigated by alternating gradient magnetometer (AGM). It has been found that the M s increases firstly and then decreases with the increasing of Zn content. The M s reaches the maximum value about 271.56 emu/cm 3 for x=0.45, meanwhile the H c reaches the minimum value about 15.62 Oe for x=0.4. The processing parameters were optimized, which includes the coating concentration, the annealing temperature and time for the films. The results indicate that the coating concentration of 0.4 mol/L, crystallization at 600 °C and annealing for 5 min are suitable for NiCuZn ferrite thin film.