MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF MULTIFERROIC BiFeO₃/BaTiO₃ Bi-LAYER THIN FILMS

Abstract

ABSTRACT Magnetic properties of multiferroic bi-layer BiFeO3 (BFO)/BaTiO3 (BTO) thin films were studied. It was found that the magnetization increased by the insertion of BTO buffer layer even though the interfacial stress was slightly relaxed, which indicated a coupling between the ferroelectric and ferromagnetic orders. Furthermore, with slight increase of BFO film thickness, both BFO and BFO/BTO bi-layer films showed anisotropic magnetic properties with higher in-plane magnetization than the values measured out-of-plane. These are attributable to strain constraint effect at the interface.