Multiferoic materials (having
coupled electric, magnetic
and structural order parameters that result in simultaneous ferroelectricity, ferromagnetism,
and ferroelasticity) present opportunities for potential application in
information storage, the emerging field of spinotronics
and sensors. The perovskite BiFeO
3 is ferroelectric [Curie temperature (
Tc) 1103 K]
and antiferromagnetic [Neél temperature (
TN) 643 K], exhibiting weak magnetism at room temperature. Conditions for synthesizing single BiFeO
3 phase are critical since the temperature stability range of the phase is very narrow. Moreover, it is also difficult to control oxygen stoichiometry in the sample.
In this work the preparation of BiFeO3 thin films by a specific wet chemical route is discussed. Respective influence of the precursors, thermal annealing condition, the substrate and, generally speaking, the preparation process of the films is presented.
Results obtained by X-ray diffraction and spectroscopic elipsometer (SE) was used to characterize the obtained films.