Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of multilayer BaTiO3/NiFe2O4 thin films prepared by solution deposition technique

In this work different lead-free multilayered structures, composed of perovskite BaTiO3 and spinel NiFe2O4 thin layers, were obtained by solution deposition method. Structural characterization of the sintered thin films confirmed the well-defined layered structure with overall thickness from 160 to 600 nm, crystalline nature of perovskite BaTiO3 and spinel NiFe2O4 phases without secondary phases (after sintering below 900 degrees C) and grains on nanometer scale. Dielectric properties of the multiferroic multilayer BaTiO3/NiFe2O4 thin films were analyzed in temperature and frequency range from 30 degrees C to 200 degrees C and 100 Hz to 1 MHz, respectively. In comparison to the pure BaTiO3 films, the introduction of ferrite layer reduces dielectric response and increases low frequency permittivity dispersion of the multilayer thin films. The multilayer samples have shown relatively low dielectric loss with stronger contribution of conductivity at higher temperatures, and characteristic broad peak repre-senting "relaxation" of the interface charge accumulation.