Abstract
We report the inception of substantial magnetization of 4107 G in rf-sputtered and annealed hydrothermally at 180 °C zinc ferrite (ZFO) thin films. The value of electron-phonon coupling strength (λ) calculated using Raman A1g and F32g modes contended the shift of inverse spinel structure of the as-prepared thin films to the normal spinel structure with the enhancement in annealing duration. The shift in spinel structure was further affirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) where inversion parameter, i.e., a fraction of the Zn2+ ions occupied by octahedral sites reduced from 0.18 of as-deposited film to 0.13 of air annealed and 0.14 for hydrothermally annealed films. Additionally, the ZFO thin film annealed hydrothermally for 4 h showed lower value of λ of 0.11 for A1g Raman mode and a high value of the ratio of surface hydroxyl (OH− groups) oxygen ions (Oii) to the lattice oxide (Fe/Zn–O) oxygen ions (Oi) in XPS spectra confirmed the presence of enormous oxygen vacancies. The magnetization analysis suggested that the presence of high oxygen vacancies in 4 h of hydrothermally annealed sample promotes the direct ferromagnetic interaction in Fe3+ ions in octahedral sites leading to a high value of saturation magnetization unlike the air annealed samples.
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