Laser-Assisted Growth of Fe₃O₄ Nanoparticle Films on Silicon Substrate in Open Air

This work presents a growth of Fe3O4 nanoparticle films on silicon substrate. The iron oxide is deposited applying a pulsed laser deposition technique. The process is performed in open air in the absence and presence of external magnetic field. In fact, the morphologies of the obtained Fe3O4-Si samples are similar. The Fe3O4 nanoparticles are spherical with average diameters of 30 nm and are densely agglomerated on the Si substrate. The Fe3O4-Si material prepared in the absence of magnetic field has revealed more intense signals during X-ray diffraction and Raman measurements. The magnetic investigations indicate that the Fe3O4 nanoparticles are significantly coupled with the Si substrate and do not exhibit superparamagnetic behavior. Moreover, the Verwey transition is 98 K for both investigated Fe3O4-Si samples.