Preparation of epitaxial yttrium–iron garnet micropatterns using metal–organic decomposition with electron-beam irradiation

Abstract

We have succeeded in obtaining epitaxial yttrium–iron garnet (YIG) micropatterns on a gadolinium-gallium garnet (GGG) substrate by a metal–organic decomposition method with electron-beam (EB) irradiation. We have demonstrated that metal-octylates of Y and Fe showed negative exposure behavior for EB irradiation. X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that the YIG micropatterns were epitaxially well grown on a GGG(111) substrate. The magnetization curve of the YIG micropatterns showed a clear hysteresis loop and the saturation magnetization was estimated to be approximately 100 emu/cm3, which is consistent with that of bulk YIG.

Magneto-optical images of submicron-size Bi-substituted YIG patterns prepared by electron-beam irradiated metal-organic decomposition

“…Quite recently, we have succeeded in fabricating high-quality epitaxial YIG micropatterns on a GGG substrate using the EB-MOD method. 30) These YIG micropatterns had good crystallographic and magnetic properties similar to epitaxial YIG films by a conventional MOD method. Since YIG is one of the fundamental RIGs, we expect that this technique can be applied to other RIG materials.…”

“…The EB sensitivity of the MOD solution for Bi:YIG was 1.13 × 10 4 μC cm −2 , which was determined by the electron-dose dependence of the remaining-film thickness for the precursor film (not shown), and it was similar to one for YIG. 30) After the EB irradiation, the antistatic agent film was removed with DIwater and the precursor film was developed with toluene. Finally, the patterned films were annealed at 750 °C in air for 3 h. We confirmed that the obtained Bi:YIG patterns were epitaxially grown on an GGG(111) substrate using X-ray diffraction measurements under out-of-plane and in-plane configuration.…”