Bi-Substituted Ferrite Garnet Type Magneto-Optic Materials Studied at ESRI Nano-Fabrication Laboratories, ECU, Australia

Abstract

Since 2007, at the Electron Science Research Institute (ESRI) nano-fabrication laboratories, Edith Cowan University, Australia, we have devoted research efforts to the synthesis and characterization of bismuth-containing ferrite-garnet-type thin-film magneto-optic (MO) materials of different compositions. We report on the growth and characteristics of radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtered bismuth-substituted iron-garnet thin films. We study the process parameters associated with the RF magnetron sputter deposition technique and investigate the results of optimizing process parameters. To achieve the best MO properties, we employ a few unique techniques, such as co-sputtered nanocomposite films and all-garnet multilayer structures, as well as the application of oxygen plasma treatment to amorphous garnet layers immediately following the deposition process. We demonstrated a remarkable enhancement in the MO properties of Bi-containing ferrite-type garnet thin-film materials, including record-high MO figures of merit and improved conventional and unconventional hysteresis loops of Faraday rotation. Previously unpublished research results on the forward-looking applications of magnetic garnet coatings applied to microparticles of advanced luminescent materials are reported. In the context of developing the next-generation ultra-fast optoelectronic devices, such as light intensity switches and modulators, high-speed flat panel displays, and high-sensitivity sensors, it is important to consider the desirable optical, magnetic, and magneto-optic properties that are found in highly bismuth-substituted iron garnet thin-film materials of various composition types.

Physical-Vapor-Deposited Metal Oxide Thin Films for pH Sensing Applications: Last Decade of Research Progress

“…Additionally, the sputtering technique allows the co-sputtering (deposition of materials from more than one material target at a time) process, glancing angle deposition, and the sequential deposition of different materials without changing the inside chamber environment that is suitable for various nanocomposite growth and the successful fabrication of application-specific thin film materials [19,[22][23][24]27,28]. Various geometries of thin film material (single and multilayer structures deposited from metal-oxide-based iron garnet sputtering targets) fabrication processes using the sputter deposition technique have been successfully performed and showcased in the report [29]. On the other hand, the evaporation (E-beam or Thermal) method requires heating a source material with a high-energy electron beam or a high-voltage thermal unit to melt the material, vaporize it, and then allow the vapor to condense onto a substrate for thin film growth.…”

Coercive Properties of Magnetic Garnet Films

“…Moreover, the present other advances in magnetic garnet thin film development for applications in photonics and spintronics are discussed in [35,36], and there is a review of the Bi-substituted ferrite garnet magneto-optic materials in the paper [37]. Dynamic and static magnetic properties of single-crystalline epitaxially grown YIG films on pure GGG (gadolinium gallium garnet), on rare-earth-substituted GGG, and on neodymium gallium garnet (NGG) substrates were investigated in [38].…”