17 - Chemical synthesis of ferrite thin films

Abstract

In this chapter, various liquid-phase chemical deposition techniques that are also known as the chemical solution deposition methods for depositing ferrite thin films are discussed. A chemical reaction happens in liquid-phase precursors in the sol–gel method and the metal–organic chemicals solution method comparatively at low temperatures. The solutions obtained from these methods are used to fabricate ferrite thin films by using spray pyrolysis, spin-coating, dip-coating, drop-casting, chemical bath deposition, and electrochemical deposition methods. These techniques require high temperatures for drying and postpreparation annealing to form the crystalline films. Spinel ferrite thin films can also be grown at a relatively lower temperature (< 100°C) including the room temperature using the ferrite plating and spin spray ferrite plating techniques which opens up the usage of nonheat resistance materials as substrates. Single-crystal substrates are used to grow high-quality epitaxial ferrite thin films by the liquid-phase epitaxy method. These chemical solution deposition techniques have the potential to form large-area homogeneous ferrite films for mass production. These simple, reproducible, and cost-effective methods can deposit thin films of various thicknesses easily.