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Epitaxial thin films of multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6 with B-site cationic order

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Abstract

Epitaxial thin films of Bi2FeCrO6 (BFCO) have been synthesized by pulsed laser deposition on SrRuO3 on (100)- and (111)-oriented SrTiO3 substrates. Detailed x-ray diffraction and cross-section transmission electron microscopy analysis revealed a double perovskite crystal structure of the BFCO epitaxial films very similar to that of BiFeO3 along with a particularly noteworthy Fe3+/Cr3+ cation ordering along the [111] direction. The films contain no detectable magnetic iron oxide impurities and have the correct cationic average stoichiometry throughout their thickness. They however exhibit a slight modulation in the Fe and Cr compositions forming complementary stripe patterns, suggesting minor local excess or depletion of Fe and Cr. The epitaxial BFCO films exhibit good ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties, in addition to magnetic properties at room temperature, as well as an unexpected crystallographic orientation dependence of their room-temperature magnetic properties. Our results qualitatively confirm the predictions made using the ab initio calculations: the double perovskite structure of BFCO films exhibit a Fe3+/Cr3+ cation ordering and good multiferroic properties, along with the unpredicted existence of magnetic ordering at room temperature.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors want to thank Prof. R.W. Paynter for insightful comments about x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Dr. C. Andrei for help in the analytical microscopy work. Part of this research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies (FQRNT), Quebec, Canada.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Québec, J3X 1S2, Canada

    Riad Nechache

  2. Département de Génie Physique, Station. Centre-ville, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 6A7, Canada

    Louis-Philippe Carignan

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and Centre for Emerging Device Technologies, McMaster University, West Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada

    Lina Gunawan

  4. Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Québec, J3X 1S2, Canada

    Catalin Harnagea

  5. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research and Centre for Emerging Device Technologies, McMaster University, West Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 4M1, Canada

    Gianluigi A. Botton

  6. Département de Génie Physique, Station. Centre-ville, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, H3C 6A7, Canada

    David Ménard

  7. Varennes (Montreal metropolitan area), Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS)/Université du Québec INRS-Énergie, Matériaux & Télécommunications (INRS-EMT), Québec, J3X 1S2, Canada

    Alain Pignolet

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  1. Riad Nechache
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  2. Louis-Philippe Carignan
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  3. Lina Gunawan
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  4. Catalin Harnagea
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  5. Gianluigi A. Botton
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  6. David Ménard
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  7. Alain Pignolet
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Correspondence to Alain Pignolet.

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Nechache, R., Carignan, LP., Gunawan, L. et al. Epitaxial thin films of multiferroic Bi2FeCrO6 with B-site cationic order. Journal of Materials Research 22, 2102–2110 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2007.0273

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2007.0273

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