Improving the surface structure of high quality Sr2FeMoO6 thin films for multilayer structures

Abstract

Two sets of Sr2FeMoO6 thin films were prepared with pulsed laser deposition and the effect of the laser fluence and the deposition temperature was investigated. The Sr2FeMoO6 thin films showed clear evidence of impurity phases when the laser fluence was altered. Phase pure films resulted through the whole temperature range between 900°C and 1050°C when a proper laser fluence was used. Films fabricated at lower deposition temperatures resulted with smaller surface roughnesses around 5nm, higher Curie temperatures and with relatively high saturation magnetization values. The Curie temperature was determined from the minimum of the first order derivative and results showed the highest values of 350K and above. The films with the highest Curie temperature reached zero magnetization above 400K. The results indicate that both high microstructural and high magnetic quality Sr2FeMoO6 thin films can be obtained with a deposition temperature between 900°C and 950°C. This provides better fabrication parameters for the upcoming SFMO multilayer structures.