Epitaxial Sr4Fe6O13±δ films obtained by pulsed laser deposition

Thickness-dependent transport properties of Sr4Fe6O13 epitaxial thin films

“…The microstructure and crystal quality of all films are quite similar to those grown on SrTiO 3 substrates [13]. Rocking curves present typical full width at half-maximum values of 0.3-0.4-.…”

“…This behaviour, widely known as ''cube-on-cube'' epitaxy, is common when perovskite-like films and substrates are used. These crystallographic details allow us to estimate a 1.7% average interfacial mismatch in our Sr 4 Fe 6 O 13 T d /NdGaO 3 (001) epitaxial films, somewhat higher than the 0.7% mismatch of the films deposited on cubic SrTiO 3 (001) substrates (lattice parameter 0.3905 nm) [13].…”

“…The pulsed laser deposition of thin films was carried out at 1.0 Â 10 À 2 mbar O 2 pressure and 750 -C substrate temperature, with variable number of laser pulses in order to prepare samples with different thickness. Previous works [11,13] provide further details on the growth, structure and microstructure of epitaxial Sr 4 Fe 6 O 13 T d films on SrTiO 3 substrates.…”

Unusual Strain Accommodation and Conductivity Enhancement by Structure Modulation Variations in Sr4Fe6O12+δ Epitaxial Films

“…[6,7] Previous works also showed that the oxygen content in SFO films deposited on STO decreases with increasing strain, indicating that the anion ordering provides an additional mechanism for strain relaxation; [7] and that the transport properties of epitaxial SFO films deposited on NdGaO 3 (NGO) revealed a dependence on film thickness, although no clear correlation with the oxygen modulation was established. [10] Taking into account these preliminary results, one might expect that SFO thin films, grown on different perovskite-type substrates, should exhibit distinct modulation vectors as a consequence of different lattice mismatches. In the present paper, we study epitaxial Sr 4 Fe 6 O 12þd thin films deposited on SrTiO 3 , LaAlO 3 and NdGaO 3 substrates.…”

“…[6,10] These apparent different substrate orientations correspond in fact to the same close matching (001) plane of their pseudo-cubic cells and were chosen in order to promote the b-axis oriented growth of the SFO structure. In fact, the SrTiO 3 (STO) substrate has a cubic perovskite structure with lattice parameter a STO ¼ 0.3905 nm, the NdGaO 3 (NGO) structure is orthorhombic with lattice parameters a NGO ¼ 0.5433 nm % H2a p , b NGO ¼ 0.5503 nm % H2a p , and c NGO ¼ 0.7715 nm % 2a p and LaAlO 3 (LAO) has also a perovskite-based structure.…”