The multiferroics in (111)-orientated PbTiO3:ϵ-Fe2O3 nanocomposite thin film

Abstract

Multiferroic materials draw more and more attention due to their potential applications in novel multifunctional instruments and devices. In nanocomposite thin films, the ferroelectric and magnetic orders can be manipulated by orientation and strain, which will affect the multiferroics. In this letter, we reported an epitaxial PbTiO3:epsilon-Fe(2)O(3)composite thin film with 20 nm thickness, which was fabricated on (111)-oriented Nb:SrTiO(3)substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering method. The nanocomposite film presents both ferroelectric (P-r& x224d; 19 mu C cm(-2)) and ferromagnetic (M-s& x224d; 25 emu cc(-1)) properties at room temperature. The combination of PbTiO(3)and epsilon-Fe(2)O(3)distinctly reduced the magnetic coercive field of the epsilon-Fe2O3. Piezoresponse force microscopy demonstrated that the composite film possessed excellent uniformity and surface quality, which is significant to the application of multifunctional precision devices.