Effect of Substrate Temperature on Structural and Magnetic Properties of c-axis Ori-ented Spinel Ferrite Ni0.65Zn0.35Fe2O4 (NZFO) Thin Films

TL;DR

This study investigates how substrate temperature influences the structural and magnetic properties of c-axis oriented Ni0.65Zn0.35Fe2O4 thin films, revealing improved crystallinity and magnetic performance at higher temperatures.

Contribution

It provides new insights into optimizing substrate temperature to enhance the magnetic and structural qualities of NZFO thin films for advanced applications.

Findings

Crystalline quality improves with higher substrate temperature.

Films grown at 800°C show lowest surface roughness.

High saturation magnetization observed at elevated growth temperatures.

Abstract

Varying the substrate temperature changes structural and magnetic properties of spinel ferrite NZFO thin films. XRD of films grown at different temperature display only 004 reflections, without any secondary peaks, showing growth orientation along the c axis. We find an increase in crystalline quality of these thin films with the rise of substrate temperature. The surface topography of the thin films grown on various growth temperatures conditions reveal that these films are smooth with low roughness, however the thin films grown at 800 C exhibit lowest average and rms roughness among all thin films. We find iron and nickel to be more oxidized i,e greater Fe and Ni content in films grown and annealed at 700 C and 800 C, compared to those grown at lower temperatures. The magnetic moment is observed to increase with an increase of substrate temperature and all thin films possess high saturation magnetization and low coercive field at room temperature. Films grown at 800 C exhibit a ferrimagnetic paramagnetic phase transition well above room temperature. The observed large magnetizations with soft magnetic behavior in NZFO thin films above room temperature suggest potential application in memory, spintronics, and multifunctional devices.