Application of titanium dioxide barrier layers for the ferromagnetic/ferroelectric multiferroics formation

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The layered multiferroics Co/PZT were obtained by ion-beam sputtering-deposition method, where PZT is a ferroelectric ceramic based on lead titanate zirconate of the composition PbZr0.45Ti0.55O3 with a thermostable plane-parallel ferroelectric/ferromagnet interface. Using cross-sectional scanning electron microscopy (SEM), we studied the interface of a cobalt layer up to several micrometers thick with a thick ceramic substrate of lead zirconate titanate. It has been shown that the use of a titanium dioxide barrier layer of TiO2 instead of PZT allows quality improvement of the interface by reducing the duration of ion-beam planarization of the ferroelectric substrate, and also to eliminate the formation of intermediate chemical compounds. Based on the data of X-ray phase analysis (XRD), it was concluded that the TiO2 layer is amorphous. Magnetoelectric measurements have shown that the use of titanium dioxide instead of PZT under appropriate planarization modes can increase the low-frequency magnetoelectric effect to 5 mV/(cm∙Ое), compared with structures with a sputtering planarizing layer of PZT, where the magnitude of the low-frequency magnetoelectric effect is 2 mV/(cm∙Оe). These results allow us to improve the characteristics of these structures when used as sensitive elements in devices for formation – processing of information and magnetic field sensors based on the magnetoelectric effect.