Magnetoelectric coupling effect in transition metal modified polycrystalline BiFeO3 thin films

Abstract

Rare-earth (Sm) and transition metal (Co) modified polycrystalline BiFeO3 (BFO) thin films have been deposited on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrate successfully through pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Piezoelectric, leakage current and temperature dependent dielectric and magnetic behaviour were investigated for the films. Typical \"butterfly-shaped\" loop were observed in BSFCO films with an effective piezoelectric constant (d(33)) similar to 94 pm/V at 0.6 MV/cm. High dielectric constant similar to 900 and low dielectric loss similar to 0.25 were observed at room temperature. M-H loops have shown relatively high saturation magnetization similar to 35 emu/cm(3) at a maximum field of H similar to 20 kOe. Enhanced magnetoelectric coupling response is observed under applied magnetic field. The multiferroic, piezoelectric, leakage current behaviours were explored. Such studies should be helpful in designing multiferroic materials based on BSFCO films. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.