Multiferroic effect of multilayer low-distorted doped bismuth ferrite thin films as a function of sputtering power and crystallographic texture

Abstract

Low-distortion rhombohedral multilayer barium-nickel co-doped BiFeO3 (Bi0.75Ba0.25Fe0.975Ni0.025O3) multiferroic thin films were grown on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates by reactive RF magnetron sputtering, as a function of sputtering power. X-ray diffraction showed that Bi0.75Ba0.25Fe0.975Ni0.025O3 multilayer films have a pseudocubic-type structure. Piezoresponse force microscopy demonstrated polarization switching in all films at room temperature. Scanning electron microscopy showed different morphologies depending on the sputtering power used during the deposition process and that the thickness of the film decreases from about 142 nm to 72 nm as the sputtering power decreases. Magnetization results showed that as the thickness of the film decreases, the magnetization of the film increases. Thus, there is a direct relation between the sputtering power, thickness and the magnetization of the film. A direct relation between in-plane residual stress and thin film thickness has been obtained. This causes the main axe of the BO6 octahedra to be tilted from 90 to 45° (from thin-film surface) by a texture crystal volume of 29 and 18% in the (012) and (110) crystallographic planes respectively.