Effect of annealing in the formation of well-crystallized and textured SrFe12O19 films grown by RF magnetron sputtering

• Published in: Journal of materials research 2023-02, Vol.38 (4), p.1119-1128
• Main Authors: Soria, G. D., Serrano, A., Prieto, J. E., Quesada, A., Gorni, G., de la Figuera, J., Marco, J. F.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Annealing; Applied and Technical Physics; Biomaterials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Crystallization; Inorganic Chemistry; Magnetic properties; Magnetron sputtering; Materials Engineering; Materials research; Materials Science; Mossbauer spectroscopy; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Radio frequency; Silicon substrates; Strontium; Strontium oxides
• ISSN: 0884-2914; 2044-5326
• DOI: 10.1557/s43578-022-00822-9

We have studied the influence of the annealing treatment on the crystalline growth of SrFe 12 O 19 previously deposited on Si (100) substrates using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. For this goal, two grown films, with and without ex situ heating step, have been analyzed and compared to determine the differences in their structural, compositional, and magnetic properties. The results obtained by the different analysis techniques, in particular Mössbauer spectroscopy together with EXAFS and XANES data, suggest that the as-grown film is composed of nanocrystalline maghemite nanoparticles and amorphous strontium oxide. Specifically, Mössbauer spectroscopy results pointed out the presence of Fe 3+ cations occupying octahedral and tetrahedral sites with hyperfine magnetic fields 49.3 T and 44.2 T, respectively, characteristic of a spinel-related structure. A strontium hexaferrite canonical structure with a c-axis orientation in the sample plane was found for the annealed film. Graphical abstract