Characterization of columnar BiFeO3 thick films prepared by magnetic field-assisted pulsed laser deposition

Abstract

Abstract Polycrystalline BiFeO3 thick films were prepared on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substates by using magnetic field-assisted pulsed laser deposition. Columnar BiFeO3 thick films were successfully obtained with a thickness of 1.8 μm, owing to an oblique incoming flux and high deposition rate by the confinement of the plume under a magnetic field. In the columnar BiFeO3 thick films, a saturated P-E hysteresis loop was obtained at RT, and the remanent polarization (P r ) and coercive field (E c ) were 42 μC cm−2 and 380 kV cm−1, respectively. Also, the piezoelectric response measured by atomic force microscopy showed a butterfly-shaped curve, and the piezoelectric d 33 coefficient was about 50 pm V−1.