Evidence of magnetoelectric coupling on calcium doped bismuth ferrite thin films grown by chemical solution deposition

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Magnetoelectric coupling was observed at room temperature in calcium modified bismuth ferrite BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si (100) substrates by the chemical solution deposition. Undoped and Ca-doped BiFeO3 films were coherently grown at a temperature of 500 degrees C for 2 h. The highest doped BFO film has a tetragonal structure with P4mm space group, while BFO has a rhombohedral structure with space group R3c, which can be treated as a special triclinic structure. Room temperature magnetic coercive field indicates that the undoped film is magnetically soft with maximum magnetoelectric coefficient in the longitudinal direction was about 12 V/cm. Adding Ca2+ ions to BFO in high concentration decreases the remnant polarization and stabilizes the charged domain walls which interact with oxygen vacancies reducing coercive field. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.