Nanostructures in perovskite–ferrite two-phase composite epitaxial thin films

Abstract

A nano-belt structure is reported oriented along the ⟨110⟩ direction in perovskite–spinel (BaTiO₃–CoFe₂O₄ or BTO–CFO) composite epitaxial thin films deposited on (001) SrTiO₃ (STO) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The effects of annealing, ramp rate and buffer layers on the nanostructure growth process were studied by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The magnetization of BTO–CFO nano-belt thin films was also compared with that of BTO–CFO nano-pillar and CFO monolayer thin films.

Keywords:

• nanocomposite
• thin film
• ferromagnetism
• self-assembly

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge financial support from the US Department of Energy under contract No. DE.-AC02-98CH10886, Office of the Air-Force Office of Scientific Research under FA 9550-06-1-0410, the Office of Naval Research under grant N00014-06-1-0204. FMB would like to acknowledge the NSFC grant # 50802011 for partial support of this work.