Domain matching epitaxy of ferrimagnetic CoFe 2 O 4 thin films on Sc 2 O 3 /Si(111)

Ferrimagnetic spinel CoFe 2 O 4 (CFO) films are integrated with Si(111) using Sc 2 O 3 buffer layers. The huge lattice mismatch (17%) between CFO and Sc 2 O 3 is accommodated by domain matching, and CFO grows epitaxially with (111) out-of-plane orientation and coexistence of A- and B-type in-plane crystal variants. CFO films have low roughness of 4Å and saturation magnetization of about 300emu/cm 3 . These properties make CFO films on Sc 2 O 3 -buffered Si(111) comparable to those grown on oxide single crystals and thus extend the possibilities of using spinel oxides in electronic devices.