Low-Temperature Growth Of Highly Crystallized Fetio3-Fe2o3 Solid Solution Thin Films With Smooth Surface Morphology

We report on the low-temperature growth of order-phased 0.8FeTiO(3)center dot 0.2Fe(2)O(3) solid solution thin films on alpha-Al2O3 (0001) substrates by a pulsed laser deposition method. Order-phased thin films can be prepared in a range of substrate temperature (T-S) of 500 degrees C <= T-S <= 700 degrees C. In this T-S range, the crystallinity and surface smoothness of thin films are improved as T-S is reduced from 700 degrees C, and highly (0001)-oriented films with a flat surface are obtained when T-S = 500 and 550 degrees C in spite of large lattice mismatch between the solid solution and the substrate (similar to 7%). Magnetic and electric properties of thin films grown at T-S = 500 and 550 degrees C are comparable to those of bulk specimen.