Heteroepitaxial growth and multiferroic properties of Mn-doped BiFeO3 films on SrTiO3 buffered III-V semiconductor GaAs

Epitaxial Mn-doped BiFeO3 (MBFO) thin films were grown on GaAs (001) substrate with SrTiO3 (STO) buffer layer by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction results demonstrate that the films show pure (00l) orientation, and MBFO (100)//STO(100), whereas STO (100)//GaAs (110). Piezoresponse force microscopy images and polarization versus electric field loops indicate that the MBFO films grown on GaAs have an effective ferroelectric switching. The MBFO films exhibit good ferroelectric behavior (2P(r) similar to 92 mu C/cm(2) and 2E(C) similar to 372 kV/cm). Ferromagnetic property with saturated magnetization of 6.5 emu/cm(3) and coercive field of about 123 Oe is also found in the heterostructure at room temperature. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.