Epitaxial BiFeO <sub>3</sub> Multiferroic Thin Film Heterostructures

Junling Wang(University of Maryland, College Park), Jeffrey B. Neaton(Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), Haimei Zheng(University of Maryland, College Park), V. Nagarajan(University of Maryland, College Park), Satishchandra Ogale(University of Maryland, College Park), B. Liu(University of Maryland, College Park), D. Viehland(Virginia Tech), V. Vaithyanathan(Pennsylvania State University), Darrell G. Schlom(Pennsylvania State University), Umesh V. Waghmare(Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research), Nicola A. Spaldin(University of California, Santa Barbara), Karin M. Rabe(Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), Manfred Wuttig(University of Maryland, College Park), R. Ramesh(University of Maryland, College Park)
Science
March 13, 2003
10.1126/science.1080615
Cited by 6,150Open Access
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Abstract

Enhancement of polarization and related properties in heteroepitaxially constrained thin films of the ferroelectromagnet, BiFeO3, is reported. Structure analysis indicates that the crystal structure of film is monoclinic in contrast to bulk, which is rhombohedral. The films display a room-temperature spontaneous polarization (50 to 60 microcoulombs per square centimeter) almost an order of magnitude higher than that of the bulk (6.1 microcoulombs per square centimeter). The observed enhancement is corroborated by first-principles calculations and found to originate from a high sensitivity of the polarization to small changes in lattice parameters. The films also exhibit enhanced thickness-dependent magnetism compared with the bulk. These enhanced and combined functional responses in thin film form present an opportunity to create and implement thin film devices that actively couple the magnetic and ferroelectric order parameters.

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