YIG Ferrite Thin-films Epitaxially Grown by Reactive Sputtering Method

Abstract

Amorphous Y-Fe-O thin films with a thickness of 2.6-2.8μm were deposited on GGG (111) substrates at 400°C using reactive RF magnetron sputtering method with Y_2.84Fe_5.16O₁₂ ferrite sintered target. After that, the thin films were post-annealed in air at temperatures higher than 650 degrees Celsius for various hours to crystallize. In the XRD experiment, diffraction peaks from (888) plane were observed in the post-annealed samples. This showed that the films have been grown in hetero-epitaxial manner on GGG (111) substrate. The YIG ferrite thin films have low coercivity of less than 3 Oe and small ΔH of around 70 Oe. The YIG thin films are promising to be used in ultra thin isolators.