Leakage mechanisms of sol–gel derived multiferroic Bi5Ti3FeO15 thin films of layered perovskite

Abstract

Polycrystalline Bi5Ti3FeO15 (BTFO) thin films of layered perovskite are prepared on (111)Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si via a sol–gel route. The BTFO thin films exhibit room-temperature multiferroic properties with the remanent polarization (2Pr) of ~ 56 µC/cm2 and saturated magnetization (Ms) of ~ 0.45 emu/cm3. Their leakage current characteristics are investigated at different temperatures from 53 to 293 K. Their leakage currents are found to be dominantly controlled by space charge limited current under low electric fields and Poole–Frenkel emission at high electric fields. Their zero-field trap ionization energy is determined to be 0.196 eV, suggesting the existence of shallow traps in the BTFO films.