Substrate influence on the structure and properties of YbFeO3 films

Abstract

Herein, YbFeO3 films are synthesized by using radio frequency magnetron sputtering and influence of substrate on film quality and magneto-optical properties is systematically investigated by depositing YbFeO3 films on different substrates, such as quartz glass, sapphire(0001), MgO(111), YSZ(111), SrTiO3(STO)(100) and SiO2(0001). The crystal structure, surface morphology, magnetic behavior and magnetic circular dichroism are characterized by using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometer and magnetic circular dichroism spectrometer. The crystallinity of films has been enhanced by thermal annealing at elevated temperatures. The results reveal that highly crystalline YbFeO3 films can be obtained after annealing at 800 °C. Moreover, the influence of lattice mismatch between substrate and film on film quality, growth orientation and surface morphology has been discussed in detail. The results reveal that large degree of lattice mismatch led to the formation of surface cracks and hindered the preferred growth orientation of film. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the choice of substrate significantly affected the optical, magnetic and magneto-optical properties of the YbFeO3 films, which exhibited obvious magnetic anisotropy, excellent coercivity of ∼882 Oe and significant magneto-optical anisotropy.