Epitaxial Bi3Fe5O12(001) films grown by pulsed laser deposition and reactive ion beam sputtering techniques

We report on processing and comparative characterization of epitaxial Bi3Fe5O12 (BIG) films grown onto Gd-3(ScGa)(5)O-12[GSGG,(001)] single crystal using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and reactive ion beam sputtering (RIBS) techniques. A very high deposition rate of about 0.8 mu m/h has been achieved in the PLD process. Comprehensive x-ray diffraction analyses reveal epitaxial quality both of the films: they are single phase, exclusively (001) oriented, the full width at half maximum of the rocking curve of (004) Bragg reflection is 0.06 deg for PLD and 0.05 deg for RIBS film, strongly in-plane textured with cube-on-cube film-to-substrate epitaxial relationship. Saturation magnetization 4 pi M-s and Faraday rotation at 635 nm were found to be 1400 Gs and -7.8 deg/mu m in PLD-BIG, and 1200 Gs and -6.9 deg/mu m in RIBS-BIG. Ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) measurements performed at 9.25 GHz yielded the gyromagnetic ratio gamma=1.797x10(7) l/s Oe, 1.826x10(7) l/s Oe; the constants of uniaxial magnetic anisotropy were K-u(*)=-8.66x10(4) erg/cm(3), -8.60x10(4) erg/cm(3); the cubic magnetic anisotropy K-1=-2.7x10(3) erg/cm(3),-3.8x10(3) erg/cm(3); and the FMR linewidth Delta H=25 and 34 Oe for PLD and RIBS films correspondingly. High Faraday rotation, low microwave loss, and low coercive field less than or equal to 40 Oe of BIG/GSGG(001) films promise their use in integrated magneto-optic applications. (C) 2000 American Institute of Physics. [S0021-8979(00)03317-X].