Multiferroism in orientational engineered (La, Mn) co-substituted BiFeO₃ thin films

Abstract

Orientational engineered (La, Mn) co-substituted BiFeO₃ (LMBFO) thin films were epitaxially grown on CaRuO₃ electroded (LaAlO₃)₀.₃(Sr₂AlTaO₆)₀.₃₅ (LSAT) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The experimental results demonstrate that the crystallographic orientation is the critical dominant of the structural and multiferroic properties of LMBFO thin films. Giant remanent polarization of 65, 92, and 106 µC/cm² for [001], [110], [111]-oriented films, respectively, were demonstrated at room temperature. Saturated magnetization is also significantly dependent on film orientation with the highest value of 12.8 emu/cm³ along [001] direction. The variation in leakage current density and ferroelectric coercivity were ascribed to the substantially difference of ferroelectric domain structures in variously oriented LMBFO thin films.