Self-Assembled Growth of Spinel (Fe,Zn)₃O₄–Perovskite BiFeO₃ Nanocomposite Structures Using Pulsed Laser Deposition

Abstract

Nanocomposite thin films consisting of spinel-type magnetic semiconductor (Fe,Zn) 3 O 4 and perovskite-type ferroelectric BiFeO 3 were prepared by a self-assembled growth method from a composition-adjusted Fe-Zn-Bi-O single target using a pulsed laser deposition technique. It is found that BiFeO 3 square patterns reflecting the in-plane lattice shape of the SrTiO 3 substrate are grown directly from the substrate interface with inverse pyramid shapes embedded in a (Fe,Zn) 3 O 4 matrix in the absence of other phases. This self-assembled growth should be a convenient method to fabricate a lot of nano-heterojunctions with complicated oxide structures, which is applicable to spintronic oxide materials.

Position-controlled functional oxide lateral heterostructures consisting of artificially aligned (Fe,Zn)3O4nanodots and BiFeO3matrix

“…Fabrication of this type of nanostructure, however, is still challenging and remains a developing process. Self-assembly synthesis has generally been used to fabricate such nanodot and nanopillar arrays, embedded in a matrix of functional oxide materials [8][9][10][11][12][13] as a convenient bottom-up fabrication method. However, precise control of the spatial positioning, structural shapes and sizes of the nanostructures remains a difficult problem, although a number of nanocomposite structures can be fabricated over a large area.…”