Epitaxial growth of ferromagnetic Co:TiO2 thin films by co-sputtering

Epitaxial anatase Co:TiO2 thin films were grown on LaAlO3 (0 0 1) substrates by co-sputtering method. Structural and compositional properties were measured as a function of deposition parameters to explore the growth mechanism of the anatase films. Epitaxial anatase structure can be obtained at deposition temperatures ranged from 500degreesC to 750degreesC. magnetization measurements show that the saturation magnetization (M-s) increases as deposition temperature increases. At 750degreesC, M-s is about 1.13 mu(B)/Co. X-ray diffraction results show that the sample has a superior anatase crystallinity with the full-width at half-maximum of 0.13degrees. It was found that M, is directly related with the crystallinity, i.e., M-s increases as the crystallinity of samples improves. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.