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Growth and magnetic properties of iron-based oxide thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature

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Abstract

In the present work, room temperature epitaxial growth of Zn-doped iron oxide films (Zn: FeOx) was achieved by pulsed laser deposition, on c-cut sapphire substrates without any high temperature thermal treatments before the growth. The nature of the oxide phases (wüstite and/or spinel) present in the films depends on the oxygen pressure during the laser ablation. At the residual vacuum (2 × 10− 7 mbar), the (111) wüstite (Zn: FeO) textures was obtained in the films, while oxygen pressures between 2 × 10− 5 to 2 × 10− 3 mbar led to the growth of the spinel (Zn: Fe3O4) phase on the c-cut sapphire substrate. Moreover, the species emitted by the target in the 2 × 10− 7 to 2 × 10− 5 mbar range, preserve their high kinetic energy which allows an easy crystallization of the film on the substrate at room temperature, leading to the epitaxial growth of the wustite and spinel phases. Magnetic properties through M(H) curves at 10 K and 300 K, of the wüstite-based film grown under 2 × 10− 7 mbar were studied, and an exchange bias due to the presence of Fe3+ cation in the film is observed. Finally, the possible mechanisms of the room temperature epitaxial growth of the oxide films on the substrate are presented and discussed.

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The datasets generated during and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

XP is grateful to the ANR (Agence Nationale de la Recherche) organisation and the Normandie Region for their financial support in the acquisition of the EELS spectrometer and the FIB setup (ANR-11-EQPX-0020). He also thanks Franck LEMARIE for the preparation of the TEM samples. All the results reported in this manuscript fall within the scope of the research foundation IRMA (FR 3095). Pole figure measurements were performed on Osirix platform (ScanMAT, UAR 2025 University of Rennes-CNRS), which received a financial support from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the Département d’Ille et Vilaine, Rennes Métropole and Région Bretagne (2015–2020 CPER project SCANMAT).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre de recherche sur les Ions, les MAtériaux et la Photonique (CIMAP), CEA, UMR CNRS 6252, ENSICAEN, Normandie Université, Caen Cedex, 14050, France

    X. Portier

  2. Groupe de Recherche sur les Milieux Ionisés (GREMI), UMR 7344 CNRS - Université d’Orléans, Orléans Cedex 2, 45067, France

    E. Millon & C. Cachoncinlle

  3. Institut des Sciences Chimiques de Rennes (ISCR), UMR 6226 CNRS - Université de Rennes, ScanMAT – UAR, Rennes, 2025, 35000, France

    V. Demange, S. Ollivier & M. Guilloux-Viry

  4. National Institute for Lasers, Plasma and Radiation Physics (NILPRP), PO Box MG-36, Magurele, Bucharest, 077125, Romania

    M. Nistor

  5. Institut des NanoSciences de Paris (INSP), UMR 7588 CNRS - Sorbonne Université, 4 Place Jussieu, Paris Cedex 05, 75252, France

    C. Hebert & J. Perrière

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Contributions

X.P., E.M., and J.P. wrote the original draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, read and approved the final manuscript. X.P. performed the TEM and EELS measurements, analyzed, and interpreted the corresponding data. E.M. analyzed and interpreted the data and managed the article. V.D. performed the XRD pole figure measurements, analyzed, and interpreted the corresponding data. S.O. performed the AFM measurements and analyzed the corresponding data. C.H. synthesized PLD films and performed the magnetic measurements and analyzed the corresponding data. M.N., C.C. and M.G. revised the manuscript. J.P. conceived and designed the project, synthesized PLD films, performed theta/2theta XRD and RBS measurement. He analyzed and interpreted the data.

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Portier, X., Millon, E., Demange, V. et al. Growth and magnetic properties of iron-based oxide thin films deposited by pulsed laser deposition at room temperature. Appl. Phys. A 130, 502 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-024-07674-6

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