Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T00:35:35.886Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Epitaxial thin films of multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6 with B-site cationic order

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Riad Nechache ,
Louis-Philippe Carignan ,
Lina Gunawan ,
Catalin Harnagea ,
Gianluigi A. Botton ,
David Ménard  and
Alain Pignolet
Riad Nechache
Affiliation:
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Québec, J3X 1S2 CANADA
Louis-Philippe Carignan
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal, Département de Génie Physique, Station. Centre-ville, Montréal, (Québec), H3C 6A7 (Canada)
Lina Gunawan
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and Centre for Emerging Device Technologies, McMaster University, West Hamilton (Ontario), L8S 4M1 (Canada)
Catalin Harnagea
Affiliation:
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Québec, J3X 1S2 CANADA
Gianluigi A. Botton
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and Centre for Emerging Device Technologies, McMaster University, West Hamilton (Ontario), L8S 4M1 (Canada)
David Ménard
Affiliation:
École Polytechnique de Montréal, Département de Génie Physique, Station. Centre-ville, Montréal, (Québec), H3C 6A7 (Canada)
Alain Pignolet*
Affiliation:
Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Québec, J3X 1S2 CANADA
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: pignolet@emt.inrs.ca
Get access

Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of Bi2FeCrO6 (BFCO) have been synthesized by pulsed laser deposition on SrRuO3 on (100)- and (111)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates. Detailed x-ray diffraction and cross-section transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed a double perovskite crystal structure of the BFCO epitaxial films very similar to that of BiFeO3 along with a particularly noteworthy Fe3+/Cr3+ cation ordering along the [111] direction. The films contain no detectable magnetic iron oxide impurities and have the correct cationic average stoichiometry throughout their thickness. They however exhibit a slight modulation in the Fe and Cr compositions forming complementary stripe patterns, suggesting minor local excess or depletion of Fe and Cr. The epitaxial BFCO films exhibit good ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties, in addition to magnetic properties at room temperature, as well as an unexpected crystallographic orientation dependence of their room-temperature magnetic properties. Our results qualitatively confirm the predictions made using the ab initio calculations: the double perovskite structure of BFCO films exhibit a Fe3+/Cr3+ cation ordering and good multiferroic properties, along with the unpredicted existence of magnetic ordering at room temperature.

Keywords

FerroelectricMagneticThin film
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 22 , Issue 8 , August 2007 , pp. 2102 - 2110
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1Hill, N.A.: Why are there so few magnetic ferroelectrics? J. Phys. Chem. B 104, 6694 2000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2Smolenskiĭ, G.A.Chupis, I.E.: Ferroelectromagnets. Sov. Phys. USPEKHI 25, 475 1982CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3Wood, V.E.Austin, A.E.: Possible applications for magnetoelectric materials. Int. J. Magn. 5, 303 1974Google Scholar
4Zutic, I., Fabian, J.Sarma, S. Das: Spintronics: Fundamentals and applications. Rev. Mod. Phys. 76, 323 2004CrossRefGoogle Scholar
5Fiebig, M.: Revival of the magnetoelectric effect. J. Phys. D 38, R123 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
6Binek, Ch.Doudin, B.: Magnetoelectronics with magnetoelectrics. J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 17, L39 2005Google Scholar
7Binek, Ch., Hochstrat, A., Chen, X., Borisov, P.Kleemann, W.: Electrically controlled exchange bias for spintronic applications. J. Appl. Phys. 97, 10C514 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8Wang, J., Neaton, J.B., Zheng, H., Nagarajan, V., Ogale, S.B., Liu, B., Viehland, D., Vaithyanathan, V., Schlom, D.G., Waghmare, U., Spaldin, N.A., Rabe, K.M., Wuttig, M.Ramesh, R.: Epitaxial BiFeO3 multiferroic thin film heterostructures. Science 299, 1719 2003CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Béa, H., Bibes, M., Barthélémy, A., Bouzehouane, K., Khodan, A., Contour, J-P., Fusil, S., Wyczisky, F., Forget, A., Lebeugle, D., Colson, D.Viert, M.: Combining half-metals and multiferroics into epitaxial heterostructures for spintronics. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 062502 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
10Eerenstein, W., Morrison, F.D., Dho, J., Blamire, M.G., Scott, J.F.Mathur, N.D.: Comment on “Epitaxial BiFeO3 multiferroic thin film heterostructures.” Science 307, 1203a 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11Béa, H., Bibes, M., Fusil, S., Bouzehouane, K., Jacquet, E., Rode, K., Bencok, P.Barthélémy, A.: Investigation on the origin of the magnetic moment of BiFeO3 thin films by advanced x-ray characterizations. Phys. Rev. B 74, 020101 2006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Murakami, M., Fujino, S., Lim, S-H., Salamanca-Riba, L.G., Wuttig, M.Takeuchi, I.: Microstructure and phase control in Bi–Fe–O multiferroic nanocomposite thin films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 112505 2006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
13Gajek, M., Bibes, M., Fusil, S., Bouzehouane, K., Fontcuberta, J., Barthélémy, A.Fert, A.: Tunnel junctions with multiferroic barriers. Nat. Mater. 6, 296 2007CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
14Schmid, H.: Multi-ferroic magnetoelectrics. Ferroelectrics 162, 665 1994CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Ascher, E., Rieder, H., Schmid, H.Stossel, H.: Some properties of ferromagnetoelectric nickel–iodine boracite, Ni3B7O13I. J. Appl. Phys. 37, 1404 1966CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Baettig, P.Spaldin, N.A.: Ab initio prediction of a multiferroic with large polarization and magnetization. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 012505 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
17Nechache, R., Harnagea, C., Pignolet, A., Normandin, F., Veres, T., Carignan, L-P.Ménard, D.: Growth, structure, and properties of epitaxial thin films of first-principles predicted multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 102902 2006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18Nechache, R., Harnagea, C., Pignolet, A., Carignan, L-P., Ménard, D.: Epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 multiferroic thin films. Philos. Mag. Lett. 87, 231 2007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Harnagea, C., Cojocaru, C.V., Gautreau, O., Nechache, R., Normandin, F., Veres, T.Pignolet, A.: Epitaxial Bi2FeCrO6 multiferroic thin films. Integr. Ferroelectr. 83, 1 2006CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Gruverman, A., Auciello, O.Tokumoto, H.: Imaging and control of domain structures in ferroelectric thin films via scanning force microscopy. Ann. Rev. Mater. Sci. 28, 101 1998CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21Harnagea, C., Pignolet, A., Alexe, M., Hesse, D.Gösele, U.: Quantitative ferroelectric characterization of single submicron grains in Bi-layered perovskite thin films. Appl. Phys. A 70, 261 2000CrossRefGoogle Scholar
22Christman, J.A., Woolcott, R.R., Kingon, A.I.Nemanich, R.J.: Piezoelectric measurements with atomic force microscopy. Appl. Phys. Lett. 73, 3851 1998CrossRefGoogle Scholar
23Harnagea, C., Alexe, M., Hesse, D.Pignolet, A.: Contact resonances in voltage-modulated force microscopy. Appl. Phys. Lett. 83, 338 2003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
24Fiorillo, F.Mayergoyz, I.D.: Characterization and Measurement of Magnetic Materials Academic Press 2004Google Scholar