Epitaxial Growth of Orthorhombic GaFeO(3) Thin Films on SrTiO(3) (111) Substrates by Simple Sol-Gel Method

A Sol-gel method assisted with spin-coating has been successfully used to grow orthorhombic GaFeO(3) epitaxial films on SrTiO(3) (111) substrates for the first time. The film with Pna2(1) crystal structure has been grown along the c-axis. The rocking curve of (004) reflection shows that the Full-Width at Half-Maximum (FWHM) value could be determined to be 0.230°, indicating good single crystallinity and high quality. X-ray Φ scan reveals a three-fold symmetry of the substrate and a six-fold symmetry of the film, respectively. The in-plane domains rotate 60° from each other in the film. Uniform film with dense structure, columnar grains with similar grain size was obtained. The thickness of the film was evaluated to be ~170 nm. The roughness value (RMS) measured by AFM was 4.5 nm, revealing a flat film. The in-plane Magnetization versus Magnetic field (M-H) curve at 5 K performs a typical ferri- or ferromagnetic hysteresis loop with a saturated magnetization (M(s)) value of 136 emu/cm(3). The Curie temperature could be determined to be 174 K. Compared to Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD), the sol-gel method can prepare large area films with low cost. These new films show promising applications in multiferroic devices.