Microstructure, magnetoelectric properties and leakage mechanisms of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3/Bi3.15Nd0.85TiO3 composite thin films

Abstract

A series of high quality Bi3.15Nd0.85TiO3 (BNT) ferroelectric thin films and La0.7Ca0.3MnO3/Bi3.15Nd0.85TiO3 (LCMO/BNT) multiferroic composite thin films were deposited on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates by chemical solution deposition (CSD) method. The microstructure, surface morphology and leakage mechanisms of BNT and LCMO/BNT composite films were revealed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and semiconductor device analyzer, respectively. Ferroelectric behavior along with a remnant polarization (2Pr) of 20 μC/cm2, saturated magnetization around 56 emu/cm3 and magnetoelectric effect (ME) voltage coefficient αME of 33 mV/cm Oe at 1 kHz for LCMO/BNT composite films were obtained at room temperature, indicating that the coupling effects of electric and magnetic field exist in the fabricated LCMO/BNT multiferroic composite thin films. And our observations provide an effective way to manipulate the conduction behavior and push forward understanding the leakage mechanism in LCMO/BNT composite films.