Epitaxial growth of PbFe12O19 thin films by alternating target laser ablation deposition of Fe2O3 and PbO

Abstract

Oriented M-type hexaferrite thin films are deposited using the alternating target laser ablation deposition (ATLAD) technique utilizing PbO and Fe2O3 targets. Crystallographic, dc magnetic, and microwave characterization results confirming the presence of a hexagonal PbFe12O19 phase are presented. We conclude that the ATLAD technique holds great promise for layer by layer deposition of various hexaferrite materials, the properties of which can be adjusted by varying the composition of the targets as well as the number of laser shots from each target during the deposition process. This would provide control over the uniaxial anisotropy fields and saturation magnetization values that was not possible in the conventional single target LAD technique.