MAGNETIC AND STRUCTURAL TRANSITION PROPERTIES OF NIOBIUM-DOPED BiFeO3 THIN FILMS

Niobium-substituted BiFeO3 (BiFe1-xNbxO3 BFNO) thin films were successfully deposited on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates by spin coating with a sol-gel technology and rapid thermal annealing. The effects of Nb content (x = 0 similar to 0.08) on the microstructure, magnetic and multiferroic properties of thin films were investigated. The result of X-ray diffraction analysis shows that the BFNO thin films have rhombohedral (R3c) to tetragonal (P4mm) phase transition at x = 0.06. The Nb doping in the B-site of BiFeO3 could induce the appearance of the spontaneous magnetization and polarization by the phase transition of rhombohedral-to-tetragonal. The BFNO thin films with x = 0.06 exhibits the maximum remanent magnetization (2Mr) of 5.2 emu/g.