BiFeO3 thin films prepared using metalorganic chemical vapor deposition

BiFeO 3 thin films were grown on (001) SrTiO 3 and (001) ZrO 2 (Y 2 O 3 ) substrates by single source metalorganic chemical vapor deposition in the temperature range T=500÷800 °C using Fe(thd) 3 and Bi(C 6 H 5 ) 3 as volatile precursors. X-ray diffraction analysis shows cube-on-cube epitaxial growth of BiFeO 3 on (001) SrTiO 3 . The strongly reduced bismuth transfer into the film due to the high thermal stability of Bi(C 6 H 5 ) 3 was counterbalanced by the increase of the total pressure as well as of the residence time of the precursor flow in the reactor; the Bi/Fe ratio in the film thus becomes close to that in the precursor mixture. Optical second harmonic generation measurements have evidenced the ferroelectric ordering in BiFeO 3 films and the apparent decrease of the Curie temperature of the strained films as compared to BiFeO 3 single crystal.