Structural and magnetic behaviour of NiFe2O4 thin film grown by pulsed laser deposition

NiFe2O4 thin film has been grown on Si (100) substrate by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The microstructure of the film was characterised by X-ray diffractometer (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Magnetic characterisation has been done by vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). In order to have comparative study, the bulk (target used for PLD) has also been characterised by XRD and VSM. Grazing incidence X-ray diffractometer (GIXRD) pattern of the film confirms the single spine! phase. Results of AFM have shown that the average grain size of the prepared film is of the order of 47 nm and surface roughness of the order of 3-4 nm. VSM measurements indicate that for the film, both the saturation magnetisation and the coercivity are greater than that of bulk.