Magnetic and structural properties of pulsed laser deposited CuFe2O4 films

Highly crystal textured copper ferrite films have been grown on s100d MgO substrates using pulsed laser deposition. Deposition temperatures were varied from 600–900 °C, with deposition oxygen pressure varied from 1 mTorr to 120 mTorr. Saturation magnetization was measured to increase monotonically with substrate temperature approaching the bulk value of 1700 G near 900 °C. Magnetization was also shown to increase with oxygen pressure with a maximum value of 2481 G obtained at a pressure of 90 mTorr. Although divalent Cu prefers octahedral sites si.e., 85% under equilibrium conditionsd, cation inversion was measured to decrease with increasing oxygen pressure and magnetization. © 2005 American Institute of Physics. fDOI: 10.1063/1.1855713g