Structure, magnetic, and microwave properties of thick Ba-hexaferrite films epitaxially grown on GaN/Al2O3 substrates

• Published in: Applied physics letters 2010-06, Vol.96 (24)
• Main Authors: Chen, Z., Yang, A., Mahalingam, K., Averett, K. L., Gao, J., Brown, G. J., Vittoria, C., Harris, V. G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0003-6951; 1077-3118
• DOI: 10.1063/1.3446867

Thick barium hexaferrite [BaO⋅(Fe2O3)6] films, having the magnetoplumbite structure (i.e., Ba M), were epitaxially grown on c-axis oriented GaN/Al2O3 substrates by pulsed laser deposition followed by liquid phase epitaxy. X-ray diffraction showed (0,0,2n) crystallographic alignment with pole figure analyses confirming epitaxial growth. High resolution transmission electron microscopy images revealed magnetoplumbite unit cells stacked with limited interfacial mixing. Saturation magnetization, 4πMs, was measured for as-grown films to be 4.1±0.3 kG with a perpendicular magnetic anisotropy field of 16±0.3 kOe. Ferromagnetic resonance linewidth, the peak-to-peak power absorption derivative at 53 GHz, was 86 Oe. These properties will prove enabling for the integration of low loss Ba M ferrite microwave passive devices with active semiconductor circuit elements in systems-on-a-wafer architecture.